SPEECHES 


INCIDENT   TO    THE 


VISIT  OF  SECRETARY  ROOT 


TO 


SOUTH  AMERICA 


JULY   4   TO    SEPTEMBER   3O,  19O6 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING 


F 

3231 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Preface  ix 

I. 

Speeches  at  an  Extraordinary  Session  of  the  Third 
Conference  of  American  Republics  held  at  Rio 

de  Janeiro,  July  31,  1906 3-20 

His  Excellency  Joaquim  Nabuco 3 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 7 

Doctor  Mariano  Cornejo 14 

Doctor  Francisco  Leon  de  la  Barra 17 

Honorable  A.  J.  Montague 18 

His  Excellency  Baron  do  Rio  Branco 20 

II. 
Other  speeches  in   Brazil 23-89 

At  Para  (Belem),  July  17,  1906: 

His  Excellency  Augusto  Montenegro 23 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 24 

At  Pernambuco  (Recife),  July  22,  1906: 

His  Excellency  Sigismundo  Gongalvez 

(summary) 26 

Mr.  Elihu   Root 27 

At  Bahia,  July  24,  1906: 

His  Excellency  Jose  Marcelino  de  Souza..  29 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 33 

At  Rio  de  Janeiro,  July  28,  1906: 

His  Excellency  Baron  do  Rio  Branco 36 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 38 

Senator  Ruy  Barbosa 40 

in 


IV  CONTENTS. 

Other  speeches  in  Brazil — Continued. 

In  the  Federal  Senate  of  Brazil,  August  2, 

1906:  Page. 

Senator  Ruy  Barbosa 43 

Senator  Alfredo  Ellis 55 

Mr.  Elihu  Root..., 58 

In  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  of  Brazil,  August 
2,  1906: 

Doctor  Paula  Guimaraes 63 

Doctor  James  Darcy 66 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 69 

At  Sao  Paulo,  August  4,  1906: 

Mr.  Theodomiro  de  Camargo 73 

Mr.  Galaor  Nazareth  de  Arujo 75 

Mr.  Gama,  jr 76 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 79 

At  presentation  of  football  trophy..  81 

At  Santos,  August  7,  1906: 

Doctor  Rezende 83 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 86 

III. 

Speeches  in  Uruguay 93-118 

At  a  banquet  given  by  the  Minister  for  For- 
eign Affairs,  August  10,  1906: 

His  Excellency  Jose  Romeu 93 

Mr.  Elihu   Root 98 

At  a  banquet  given  by  His  Excellency  the 
President,  August  n,  1906: 

His  Excellency  Jos6  Batlle  y  Ordofiez...  101 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 106 

At  a  breakfast  given  by  the  Reception  Com- 
mittee, August  12,  1906: 

Doctor  Zorrilla  de  San  Martin 109 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 115 


CONTENTS.  V 

IV.  Page. 

Speeches  in  Argentina 121-163 

In  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  of  Argentina, 
July  4,  1906: 

Honorable  Emilio  Mitre 121 

At  a  banquet  given  by  His  Excellency  the 
President,  August  14,  1906: 

His  Excellency  J.  Figueroa  Alcorta 133 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 137 

At  a  reception  in  St.  George's  Hall,  August 
16,  1906: 

Mr.  Francis  B.  Purdie 141 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 146 

At  a  banquet  given  by  the  Reception  Com- 
mittee, August  17,  1906: 

Doctor  Luis  M.  Drago 151 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 157 

V. 

Speeches  in  Chile 167—180 

At   the    Government    House,    September   i, 
1906: 

His  Excellency  Germdn  Riesco 167 

Mr.. Elihu  Root , 168 

At  a  banquet  given  by  His  Excellency  the 
President,  September  2,  1906: 

His  Excellency  Antonio  Huneeus 170 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 176 

VI. 

Speeches  in  Peru 183-216 

At   the    Municipal    Council,    September   10, 
1906 : 

Doctor  Federico  Elguera 183 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 187 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Speeches  in  Peru — Continued. 

At  a  banquet  given  by  His  Excellency  the 

President,  September  10,  1906:  Page. 

His  Excellency  Jose  Pardo  y  Barreda...  189 

Mr.   Elihu  Root 191 

At  a  banquet  given  by  His  Excellency  the 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  September 
n,  1906: 

His  Excellency  Javier  Prado  y  Ugarteche  194 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 206 

In  the  Peruvian  Senate,  September  13,  1906: 

Senator  Barrios 212 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 214 

VII. 

Speeches  upon  the  installation  of  Secretary  Root 
as  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  Political  and 
Administrative  Sciences  of  the  University  of 

San  Marcos,  Lima,  September  14,  1906 219-248 

Doctor  Luis  F.  Villardn 219 

Doctor  Ramon  Ribeyro 223 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 242 

VIII. 

Speeches  in  Panama 251-259 

In  the  National  Assembly,  September  21, 
1906: 

His  Excellency  Ricardo  Arias 251 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 256 

IX. 

Speeches  in  Colombia 263-267 

At  a  breakfast  given  by  His  Excellency  the 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  September 
24,  1906: 

His  Excellency  Vasquez-Cobo 263 

Mr.  Elihu  Root 265 


CONTENTS.  VII 

APPENDIX. 

Speech    of   Mr.    Elihu    Root    before  the  Trans- 
Mississippi  Commercial  Congress,  Kansas  City,          Page. 
November  20,  1906 269—300 


PREFACE. 


The  speeches  included  in  this  volume  were  de- 
livered during  a  journey  by  the  Secretary  of  State 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  South  America 
in  the  summer  of  1906.  The  journey  had  as  its 
primary  purpose  a  visit  to  the  Third  Conference  of 
American  Republics,  held  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  July 
and  August  of  that  year,  and  it  was  extended  upon 
the  hospitable  invitations  of  the  Governments  of 
other  South  American  countries.  It  was  made  in 
the  United  States  cruiser  Charleston,  Commander 
Cameron  McR.  Winslow,  U.  S.  Navy,  sailing  from 
New  York  July  4th,  and  left  at  Panama  September 
22d,  and  finished  in  the  United  States  cruiser 
Columbia,  Commander  John  M.  Bowyer,  U.  S. 
Navy,  sailing  from  Colon  September  23d  and  arriv- 
ing at  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac  September  3oth. 

The  speeches  here  printed  are,  for  the  most  part, 
of  a  sufficiently  official  character  to  be  properly 
part  of  the  diplomatic  history  of  the  American  Re- 
publics. Many  other  speeches  made  during  the 
journey  have  not  been  preserved. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  Message  of 
President  Roosevelt  to  Congress,  December  3,  1906: 

"The  Second  International  Conference  of 
American  Republics,  held  in  Mexico  in  the 
years  1901-2,  provided  for  the  holding  of  the 

IX 


PREFACE. 

third  conference  within  five  years,  and  commit- 
ted the  fixing  of  the  time  and  place  and  the 
arrangements  for  the  conference  to  the  govern- 
ing board  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics, 
composed  of  the  representatives  of  all  the  Ameri- 
can nations  in  Washington.  That  board  dis- 
charged the  duty  imposed  upon  it  with  marked 
fidelity  and  painstaking  care,  and  upon  the  cour- 
teous invitation  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil, 
the  conference  was  held  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  con- 
tinuing from  the  23d  of  July  to  the  2Qth  of 
August  last.  Many  subjects  of  common  interest 
to  all  the  American  nations  were  discust  by  the 
conference,  and  the  conclusions  reached,  em- 
bodied in  a  series  of  resolutions  and  proposed 
conventions,  will  be  laid  before  you  upon  the 
coming  in  of  the  final  report  of  the  American 
delegates.  They  contain  many  matters  of  im- 
portance relating  to  the  extension  of  trade,  the 
increase  of  communication,  the  smoothing  away 
of  barriers  to  free  intercourse,  and  the  promo- 
tion of  a  better  knowledge  and  good  understand- 
ing between  the  different  countries  represented. 
The  meetings  of  the  conference  were  harmonious 
and  the  conclusions  were  reached  with  substantial 
unanimity.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  in 
the  successive  conferences  which  have  been  held 
the  representatives  of  the  different  American 
nations  have  been  learning  to  work  together 
effectively,  for,  while  the  First  Conference  in 
Washington  in  1889,  and  the  Second  Conference 
in  Mexico  in  1901-2,  occupied  many  months, 
with  much  time  wasted  in  an  unregulated  and 
fruitless  discussion,  the  Third  Conference  at  Rio 
exhibited  much  of  the  facility  in  the  practical 


PREFACE.  XI 

dispatch  of  business  which  characterizes  perma- 
nent deliberative  bodies,  and  completed  its  labors 
within  the  period  of  six  weeks  originally  allotted 
for  its  sessions. 

"Quite  apart  from  the  specific  value  of  the 
conclusions  reached  by  the  conference,  the  exam- 
ple of  the  representatives  of  all  the  American 
nations  engaging  in  harmonious  and  kindly  con- 
sideration and  discussion  of  subjects  of  common 
interest  is  itself  of  great  and  substantial  value 
for  the  promotion  of  reasonable  and  considerate 
treatment  of  all  international  questions.  The 
thanks  of  this  country  are  due  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  Brazil  and  to  the  people  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro  for  the  generous  hospitality  with  which 
our  delegates,  in  common  with  the  others,  were 
received,  entertained,  and  facilitated  in  their 
work. 

"Incidentally  to  the  meeting  of  the  confer- 
ence, the  Secretary  of  State  visited  the  city  of 
Rio  de  Janeiro  and  was  cordially  received  by  the 
conference,  of  which  he  was  made  an  honorary 
president.  The  announcement  of  his  intention 
to  make  this  visit  was  followed  by  most  courte- 
ous and  urgent  invitations  from  nearly  all  the 
countries  of  South  America  to  visit  them  as  the 
guest  of  their  Governments.  It  was  deemed 
that  by  the  acceptance  of  these  invitations  we 
might  appropriately  express  the  real  respect  and 
friendship  in  which  we  hold  our  sister  Republics 
of  the  southern  continent,  and  the  Secretary, 
accordingly,  visited  Brazil,  Uruguay,  Argen- 
tina, Chile,  Peru,  Panama,  and  Colombia.  He 
refrained  from  visiting  Paraguay,  Bolivia,  and 
Ecuador  only  because  the  distance  of  their  capi- 


XII  PREFACE. 

tals  from  the  seaboard  made  it  impracticable 
with  the  time  at  his  disposal.  He  carried  with 
him  a  message  of  peace  and  friendship,  and  of 
strong  desire  for  good  understanding  and  mutual 
helpfulness;  and  he  was  everywhere  received  in 
the  spirit  of  his  message.  The  members  of  gov- 
ernment, the  press,  the  learned  professions,  the 
men  of  business,  and  the  great  masses  of  the 
people  united  everywhere  in  emphatic  response 
to  his  friendly  expressions  and  in  doing  honor  to 
the  country  and  cause  which  he  represented. 

"In  many  parts  of  South  America  there  has 
been  much  misunderstanding  of  the  attitude  and 
purposes  of  the  United  States  toward  the  other 
American  Republics.  An  idea  had  become 
prevalent  that  our  assertion  of  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine implied,  or  carried  with  it,  an  assumption 
of  superiority,  and  of  a  right  to  exercise  some 
kind  of  protectorate  over  the  countries  to  whose 
territory  that  doctrine  applies.  Nothing  could 
be  farther  from  the  truth.  Yet  that  impression 
continued  to  be  a  serious  barrier  to  good  under- 
standing, to  friendly  intercourse,  to  the  intro- 
duction of  American  capital  and  the  extension 
of  American  trade.  The  impression  was  so  wide- 
spread that  apparently  it  could  not  be  reached 
by  any  ordinary  means. 

"It  was  part  of  Secretary  Root's  mission  to 
dispel  this  unfounded  impression,  and  there  is 
just  cause  to  believe  that  he  has  succeeded.  In 
an  address  to  the  third  conference  at  Rio  on 
the  3ist  of  July — an  address  of  such  note  that  I 
send  it  in,  together  with  this  message — he  said : 
.  "'We  wish  for  no  victories  but  those,  of 
peace ;  for  no  territory  except  our  own ;  for  no 


PREFACE.  XIII 

sovereignty  except  the  sovereignty  over  our- 
selves. We  deem  the  independence  and  equal 
rights  of  the  smallest  and  weakest  member  of 
the  family  of  nations  entitled  to  as  much  respect 
as  those  of  the  greatest  empire,  and  we  deem  the 
observance  of  that  respect  the  chief  guaranty  of 
the  weak  against  the  oppression  of  the  strong. 
We  neither  claim  nor  desire  any  rights  or  privi- 
leges or  powers  that  we  do  not  freely  concede 
to  every  American  Republic.  We  wish  to  in- 
crease our  prosperity,  to  extend  our  trade,  to 
grow  in  wealth,  in  wisdom,  and  in  spirit,  but  our 
conception  of  the  true  way  to  accomplish  this  is 
not  to  pull  down  others  and  profit  by  their  ruin, 
but  to  help  all  friends  to  a  common  prosperity 
and  a  common  growth,  that  we  may  all  become 
greater  and  stronger  together. 

'"Within  a  few  months  for  the  first  time  the 
recognized  possessors  of  every  foot  of  soil  upon 
the  American  continents  can  be  and  I  hope  will 
be  represented  with  the  acknowledged  rights  of 
equal  sovereign  states  in  the  great  World  Con- 
gress at  The  Hague.  This  will  be  the  world's 
formal  and  final  acceptance  of  the  declaration 
that  no  part  of  the  American  continents  is  to  be 
deemed  subject  to  colonization.  Let  us  pledge 
ourselves  to  aid  each  other  in  the  full  perform- 
ance of  the  duty  to  humanity  which  that  accepted 
declaration  implies,  so  that  in  time  the  weakest 
and  most  unfortunate  of  our  Republics  may 
come  to  march  with  equal  step  by  the  side  of  the 
stronger  and  more  fortunate.  Let  us  help  each 
other  to  show  that  for  all  the  races  of  men  the 
liberty  for  which  we  have  fought  and  labored  is 
the  twin  sister  of  justice  and  peace.  Let  us 


XIV  PREFACE. 

unite  in  creating  and  maintaining  and  making 
effective  an  ail-American  public  opinion,  whose 
power  shall  influence  international  conduct  and 
prevent  international  wrong,  and  narrow  the 
causes  of  war,  and  forever  preserve  our  free 
lands  from  the  burden  of  such  armaments  as  are 
massed  behind  the  frontiers  of  Europe,  and 
bring  us  ever  nearer  to  the  perfection  of  ordered 
liberty.  So  shall  come  security  and  prosperity, 
production  and  trade,  wealth,  learning,  the  arts, 
and  happiness  for  us  all.' 

"These  words  appear  to  have  been  received 
with  acclaim  in  every  part  of  South  America. 
They  have  my  hearty  approval,  as  I  am  sure  they 
will  have  yours,  and  I  can  not  be  wrong  in 
the  conviction  that  they  correctly  represent  the 
sentiments  of  the  whole  American  people.  I 
can  not  better  characterize  the  true  attitude  of 
the  United  States  in  its  assertion  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  than  in  the  words  of  the  distinguished 
former  minister  of  foreign  affairs  of  Argentina, 
Doctor  Drago,  in  his  speech  welcoming  Mr. 
Root  at  Buenos  Ayres.  He  spoke  of— 

"  'The  traditional  policy  of  the  United  States 
(which)  without  accentuating  superiority  or  seek- 
ing preponderance,  condemned  the  oppression 
of  the  nations  of  this  part  of  the  world  and  the 
control  of  their  destinies  by  the  great  Powers  of 
Europe.' 

"  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  in  the  great 
city  of  Buenos  Ayres,  upon  the  arches  which 
spanned  the  streets,  entwined  with  Argentine 
and  American  flags  for  the  reception  of  our 
representative,  there  were  emblazoned  not  only 
the  names  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  and 


PREFACE.  XV 

Marshall,  but  also,  in  appreciative  recognition  of 
their  services  to  the  cause  of  South  American 
independence,  the  names  of  James  Monroe,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  Henry  Clay,  and  Richard  Rush. 
We  take  especial  pleasure  in  the  graceful  cour- 
tesy of  the  Government  of  Brazil,  which  has 
given  to  the  beautiful  and  stately  building  first 
used  for  the  meeting  of  the  conference  the  name 
of  '  Palacio  Monroe/  Our  grateful  acknowledg- 
ments are  due  to  the  Governments  and  the  peo- 
ple of  all  the  countries  visited  by  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  the  courtesy,  the  friendship,  and  the 
honor  shown  to  our  country  in  their  generous 
hospitality  to  him." 


Speeches  at  an  Extraordinary  Session  of  the 
Third  Conference  of  American  Republics 
held  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  July  31,  1906. 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Joaquim  Nabuco,  Ambas- 
sador Extraordinary  and  Plenipotentiary  from 
the  United  States  of  Brazil  to  the  United  States 
of  America,  President  of  the  Conference. 


[Translation  from  the  Portuguese.] 

SIR:  You  do  not  come  here  to-night  as  a 
stranger  to  take  your  place  as  an  honorary  presi- 
dent of  this  Conference.  You  were  the  first  to 
express  a  desire  that  the  Conference  should  meet 
this  year ;  you  it  was  who,  in  Washington,  brought 
to  a  happy  conclusion  the  difficult  elaboration  of 
its  program  and  of  its  rules.  Neither  can  we  forget 
that  at  one  time  you  even  expected  to  be  one  of 
us,  a  plan  you  abandoned  only  to  divide  your  time 
among  all  the  Republics  that  claimed  the  honor  of 
your  visit.  The  meeting  of  this  Conference  is  thus 
to  a  great  extent  your  own  work.  In  nothing  else 
since  you  came  to  your  high  post  have  you  taken  a 
more  direct  and  personal  interest.  You  seem  to 
divine  in  the  spirit  that  animates  you  with  regard 
to  our  continent  the  mark  that  your  name  will  leave 
in  history. 

I  believe  that  you  and  the  Conference  under- 
stand each  other  fully.  The  periodical  meeting 
of  this  body,  exclusively  composed  of  American 


4  CONFERENCE. 

nations,    assuredly   means   that    America   forms   a 
political  system    separate    from  that  of    Europe— 
a  constellation  with  its  own  distinct  orbit. 

By  aiming,  however,  at  a  common  civilization 
and  by  trying  to  make  of  the  space  we  occupy  on 
the  globe  a  vast  neutral  zone  of  peace,  we  are 
working  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  world.  In 
this  way  we  offer  to  the  population,  to  the  wealth, 
and  to  the  genius  of  Europe  a  much  wider  and 
safer  field  of  action  in  our  hemisphere  than  if  we 
formed  a  disunited  continent,  or  if  we  belonged  to 
the  belligerent  camps  into  which  the  Old  World 
may  become  divided.  One  point  specially  will  be 
of  great  interest  for  you,  who  so  heartily  desire  the 
success  of  this  work.  The  Conference  is  convinced 
that  its  mission  is  not  to  force  any  nation  belong- 
ing to  it  to  do  anything  she  would  not  be  freely 
prepared  to  do  upon  her  own  initiative ;  we  all 
recognize  that  its  sole  function  is  to  impart  our  col- 
lective sanction  to  what  has  already  become  unani- 
mous in  the  opinion  of  the  whole  continent. 

This  is  the  first  time,  sir,  that  an  American 
Secretary  of  State  officially  visits  a  foreign  nation, 
and  we  all  feel  happy  that  that  first  visit  was  to 
Latin  America.  You  will  find  everywhere  the  same 
admiration  for  your  great  country,  whose  influence 
in  the  advance  of  moral  culture,  of  political  liberty, 
and  of  international  law  has  begun  already  to 
counterbalance  that  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  Min- 
gled with  that  admiration  you  will  also  find  the 


NABUCO.  5 

sentiment  that  you  could  not  rise  without  raising 
with  you  our  whole  continent;  that  in  everything 
you  achieve  we  shall  have  our  share  of  progress. 

There  are  few  rolls  of  honor  so  brilliant  in  his- 
tory as  that  of  men  who  have  occupied  your  high 
position.  Among  them  any  distinction  on  the 
ground  of  their  merits  would  be  fated  to  be  unjust ; 
a  few  names,  however,  that  shine  more  vividly  in 
history,  such  as  those  of  Jefferson,  Monroe,  Webster, 
Clay,  Seward,  and  Elaine — the  latter  the  creator  of 
these  conferences — suffice  to  show  abroad  that  the 
United  States  have  always  been  as  proud  of  the  per- 
fection of  the  mold  in  which  their  Secretaries  of 
State  have  been  cast  and  as  zealous  in  this  respect 
as  they  have  been  in  the  case  of  their  Presidents. 
We  fully  appreciate  the  luster  added  to  this  Confer- 
ence by  the  part  you  take  in  it  to-night.  It  is  with 
sincere  gratification  that  we  welcome  you.  Here, 
you  may  be  sure,  you  are  surrounded  by  the  respect 
of  our  whole  continent  for  your  great  nation ;  for 
President  Roosevelt,  who  has  shown  himself  during 
his  term  of  office,  and  will  ever  remain,  whatever 
position  he  may  choose  to  occupy  in  public  life, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  mankind;  and  for  yourself, 
whose  sound  sense  of  justice  and  whose  sincere 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  all  American  nations  reflect 
the  noblest  inspiration  that  animated  the  greatest  of 
your  predecessors. 

This  voyage  of  yours  demonstrates  practically  to 
the  whole  world  your  good  faith  as  a  statesman  and 


6  CONFERENCE. 

your  broad  sympathy  as  an  American ;  it  shows  the 
conscientiousness  and  the  care  with  which  you  wish 
to  place  before  the  President  and  the  country  the 
fundamental  points  of  your  national  external  policy. 
You  are  now  exploring  political  seas  never  navi- 
gated before,  lands  not  yet  revealed  to  the  genius 
of  your  statesmen  and  towards  which  they  were 
attracted,  as  we  are  all  attracted  one  to  another,  by 
an  irresistible  continental  gravitation.  We  feel  cer- 
tain, however,  that  at  the  end  of  your  long  jour- 
ney you  will  feel  that,  in  their  ideals  and  in  their 
hearts,  the  American  Republics  form  already  a  great 
political  unit  in  the  world. 


Speech  of  Elihu  Root,  Secretary  of  State  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  Honorary  President 
of  the  Conference. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  THIRD 
CONFERENCE  OF  AMERICAN  REPUBLICS: 
I   beg  you  to  believe  that  I   highly  appreciate 
and  thank  you  for  the  honor  you  do  me. 

I  bring  from  my  country  a  special  greeting  to 
her  elder  sisters  in  the  civilization  of  America. 

Unlike  as  we  are  in  many  respects,  we  are  alike 
in  this,  that  we  are  all  engaged  under  new  condi- 
tions, and  free  from  the  traditional  forms  and  limita- 
tions of  the  Old  World  in  working  out  the  same 
problem  of  popular  self-government. 

It  is  a  difficult  and  laborious  task  for  each  of  us. 
Not  in  one  generation  nor  in  one  century  can  the 
effective  control  of  a  superior  sovereign,  so  long 
deemed  necessary  to  government,  be  rejected  and 
effective  self-control  by  the  governed  be  perfected 
in  its  place.  The  first  fruits  of  democracy  are  many 
of  them  crude  and  unlovely;  its  mistakes  are  many, 
its  partial  failures  many,  its  sins  not  few.  Capacity 
for  self-government  does  not  come  to  man  by  nature. 
It  is  an  art  to  be  learned,  and  it  is  also  an  expression 
of  character  to  be  developed  among  all  the  thou- 
sands of  men  who  exercise  popular  sovereignty. 


8  CONFERENCE. 

To  reach  the  goal  towards  which  we  are  pressing 
forward,  the  governing  multitude  must  first  acquire 
knowledge  that  comes  from  universal  education, 
wisdom  that  follows  practical  experience,  personal 
independence  and  self-respect  befitting  men  who 
acknowledge  no  superior,  self-control  to  replace 
that  external  control  which  a  democracy  rejects, 
respect  for  law,  obedience  to  the  lawful  expressions 
of  the  public  will,  consideration  for  the  opinions 
and  interests  of  others  equally  entitled  to  a  voice  in 
the  state,  loyalty  to  that  abstract  conception — one's 
country — as  inspiring  as  that  loyalty  to  personal 
sovereigns  which  has  so  illumined  the  pages  of 
history,  subordination  of  personal  interests  to  the 
public  good,  love  of  justice  and  mercy,  of  liberty 
and  order.  All  these  we  must  seek  by  slow  and 
patient  effort;  and  of  how  many  shortcomings  in 
his  own  land  and  among  his  own  people  each  one 
of  us  is  conscious. 

Yet  no  student  of  our  times  can  fail  to  see  that 
not  America  alone  but  the  whole  civilized  world  is 
swinging  away  from  its  old  governmental  moorings 
and  intrusting  the  fate  of  its  civilization  to  the 
capacity  of  the  popular  mass  to  govern.  By  this 
pathway  mankind  is  to  travel,  withersoever  it  leads. 
Upon  the  success  of  this  our  great  undertaking  the 
hope  of  humanity  depends. 

Nor  can  we  fail  to  see  that  the  world  makes 
substantial  progress  towards  more  perfect  popular 
self-government. 


ROOT.  9 

I  believe  it  to  be  true  that,  viewed  against  the 
background  of  conditions  a  century,  a  generation, 
a  decade  ago,  government  in  my  own  country  has 
advanced,  in  the  intelligent  participation  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  people,  in  the  fidelity  and  honesty 
with  which  they  are  represented,  in  respect  for  law, 
in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  a  sound  morality, 
and  in  effectiveness  and  purity  of  administration. 

Nowhere  in  the  world  has  this  progress  been 
more  marked  than  in  Latin  America.  Out  of  the 
wrack  of  Indian  fighting  and  race  conflicts  and  civil 
wars,  strong  and  stable  governments  have  arisen. 
Peaceful  succession  in  accord  with  the  people's 
will  has  replaced  the  forcible  seizure  of  power  per- 
mitted by  the  people's  indifference.  Loyalty  to 
country,  its  peace,  its  dignity,  its  honor,  has  risen 
above  partizanship  for  individual  leaders.  The  rule 
of  law  supersedes  the  rule  of  man.  Property  is 
protected  and  the  fruits  of  enterprise  are  secure. 
Individual  liberty  is  respected.  Continuous  public 
policies  are  followed ;  national  faith  is  held  sacred. 
Progress  has  not  been  equal  everywhere,  but  there 
has  been  progress  everywhere.  The  movement  in 
the  right  direction  is  general.  The  right  tendency 
is  not  exceptional ;  it  is  continental.  The  present 
affords  just  cause  for  satisfaction ;  the  future  is 
bright  with  hope. 

It  is  not  by  national  isolation  that  these  results 
have  been  accomplished,  or  that  this  progress  can 
be  continued.  No  nation  can  live  unto  itself  alone 


IO  CONFERENCE. 

and  continue  to  live.  Each  nation's  growth  is  a 
part  of  the  development  of  the  race.  There  may 
be  leaders  and  there  may  be  laggards,  but  no  nation 
can  long  continue  very  far  in  advance  of  the  gen- 
eral progress  of  mankind,  and  no  nation  that  is  not 
doomed  to  extinction  can  remain  very  far  behind. 
It  is  with  nations  as  it  is  with  individual  men ;  in- 
tercourse, association,  correction  of  egotism  by  the 
influence  of  other's  judgment,  broadening  of  views 
by  the  experience  and  thought  of  equals,  accept- 
ance of  the  moral  standards  of  a  community  the 
desire  for  whose  good  opinion  lends  a  sanction  to 
the  rules  of  right  conduct — these  are  the  conditions 
of  growth  in  civilization.  A  people  whose  minds 
are  not  open  to  the  lessons  of  the  world's  progress, 
whose  spirits  are  not  stirred  by  the  aspirations  and 
the  achievements  of  humanity  struggling  the  world 
over  for  liberty  and  justice,  must  be  left  behind  by 
civilization  in  its  steady  and  beneficent  advance. 

To  promote  this  mutual  interchange  and  assist- 
ance between  the  American  Republics,  engaged  in 
the  same  great  task,  inspired  by  the  same  purpose, 
and  professing  the  same  principles,  I  understand  to 
be  the  function  of  the  American  Conference  now 
in  session.  There  is  not  one  of  all  our  countries 
that  can  not  benefit  the  others ;  there  is  not  one  that 
can  not  receive  benefit  from  the  others ;  there  is  not 
one  that  will  not  gain  by  the  prosperity,  the  peace, 
the  happiness  of  all. 

According  to  your  program  no  great  and  im- 


ROOT.  I  I 

pressive  single  thing  is  to  be  done  by  you ;  no  politi- 
cal questions  are  to  be  discussed ;  no  controversies 
are  to  be  settled;  no  judgment  is  to  be  passed  upon 
the  conduct  of  any  state :  but  many  subjects  are  to  be 
considered  which  afford  the  possibility  of  removing 
barriers  to  intercourse ;  of  ascertaining  for  the  com- 
mon benefit  what  advances  have  been  made  by  each 
nation  in  knowledge,  in  experience,  in  enterprise, 
in  the  solution  of  difficult  questions  of  government, 
and  in  ethical  standards ;  of  perfecting  our  knowl- 
edge of  each  other;  and  of  doing  away  with  the 
misconceptions,  the  misunderstandings,  and  the  re- 
sultant prejudices  that  are  such  fruitful  sources  of 
controversy. 

And  there  are  some  subjects  in  the  program 
which  invite  discussion  that  may  lead  the  American 
Republics  towards  an  agreement  upon  principles, 
the  general  practical  application  of  which  can  come 
only  in  the  future  through  long  and  patient  effort. 
Some  advance  at  least  may  be  made  here  towards 
the  complete  rule  of  justice  and  peace  among  na- 
tions in  lieu  of  force  and  war. 

The  association  of  so  many  eminent  men  from 
all  the  Republics,  leaders  of  opinion  in  their  own 
homes ;  the  friendships  that  will  arise  among  you ; 
the  habit  of  temperate  and  kindly  discussion  of 
matters  of  common  interest ;  the  ascertainment  of 
common  sympathies  and  aims;  the  dissipation 
of  misunderstandings ;  the  exhibition  to  all  the 
American  peoples  of  this  peaceful  and  considerate 


12  CONFERENCE. 

method  of  conferring  upon  international  questions — 
this  alone,  quite  irrespective  of  the  resolutions  you 
may  adopt  and  the  conventions  you  may  sign,  will 
mark  a  substantial  advance  in  the  direction  of  in- 
ternational good  understanding. 

These  beneficent  results  the  Government  and 
the  people  of  the  United  States  of  America  greatly 
desire. 

We  wish  for  no  victories  but  those  of  peace;  for 
no  territory  except  our  own ;  for  no  sovereignty  ex- 
cept the  sovereignty  over  ourselves.  We  deem  the 
independence  and  equal  rights  of  the  smallest  and 
weakest  member  of  the  family  of  nations  entitled  to 
as  much  respect  as  those  of  the  greatest  empire,  and 
we  deem  the  observance  of  that  respect  the  chief 
guaranty  of  the  weak  against  the  oppression  of  the 
strong.  We  neither  claim  nor  desire  any  rights,  or 
privileges,  or  powers  that  we  do  not  freely  concede 
to  every  American  Republic.  We  wish  to  increase 
our  prosperity,  to  expand  our  trade,  to  grow  in 
wealth,  in  wisdom,  and  in  spirit,  but  our  conception 
of  the  true  way  to  accomplish  this  is  not  to  pull  down 
others  and  profit  by  their  ruin,  but  to  help  all  friends 
to  a  common  prosperity  and  a  common  growth,  that 
we  may  all  become  greater  and  stronger  together. 

Within  a  few  months,  for  the  first  time,  the 
recognized  possessors  of  every  foot  of  soil  upon  the 
American  continents  can  be  and  I  hope  will  be 
represented  with  the  acknowledged  rights  of  equal 
sovereign  states  in  the  great  World  Congress  at  The 
Hague.  This  will  be  the  world's  formal  and  final 


ROOT.  1 3 

acceptance  of  the  declaration  that  no  part  of  the 
American  continents  is  to  be  deemed  subject  to 
colonization.  Let  us  pledge  ourselves  to  aid  each 
other  in  the  full  performance  of  the  duty  to  human- 
ity which  that  accepted  declaration  implies ;  so  that 
in  time  the  weakest  and  most  unfortunate  of  our 
Republics  may  come  to  march  with  equal  step  by 
the  side  of  the  stronger  and  more  fortunate.  Let 
us  help  each  other  to  show  that  for  all  the  races 
of  men  the  liberty  for  which  we  have  fought  and 
labored  is  the  twin  sister  of  justice  and  peace.  Let 
us  unite  in  creating  and  maintaining  and  making 
effective  an  ail-American  public  opinion,  whose 
power  shall  influence  international  conduct  and  pre- 
vent international  wrong,  and  narrow  the  causes  of 
war,  and  forever  preserve  our  free  lands  from  the 
burden  of  such  armaments  as  are  massed  behind 
the  frontiers  of  Europe,  and  bring  us  ever  nearer 
to  the  perfection  of  ordered  liberty.  So  shall 
come  security  and  prosperity,  production  and  trade, 
wealth,  learning,  the  arts,  and  happiness  for  us  all. 
Not  in  a  single  conference,  nor  by  a  single  effort, 
can  very  much  be  done.  You  labor  more  for  the 
future  than  for  the  present ;  but  if  the  right  impulse 
be  given,  if  the  right  tendency  be  established,  the 
work  you  do  here  will  go  on  among  all  the  millions 
of  people  in  the  American  continents  long  after 
your  final  adjournment,  long  after  your  lives,  with 
incalculable  benefit  to  all  our  beloved  countries, 
which  may  it  please  God  to  continue  free  and  inde- 
pendent and  happy  for  ages  to  come. 


Speech  of  Mr.  Mariano  Cornejo,  Envoy  Extraor- 
dinary and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  the 
Republic  of  Peru  to  the  Kingdom  of  Spain, 
former  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
Delegate  from  Peru. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

[The  PRESIDENT.  There  is  before  me  a  motion  presented  by  the 
Peruvian  Delegation. 

The  motion  was  then  read  : 

"The  Peruvian  Delegation  moves  that  the  minutes  of  the  grand 
session  of  to-day,  signed  by  all  the  Delegates,  be  presented  to  the 
Department  of  State  at  Washington  as  an  expression  of  the  great 
pleasure  with  which  the  Pan-American  Conference  has  received  its 
Honorary  President,  the  Hon.  Elihu  Root."] 

HONORABLE  MINISTER;  MR.   PRESIDENT;  HONOR- 
ABLE DELEGATES: 

The  Delegation  from  Peru  desires  that  there  may 
remain  a  mark  of  this  solemn  session,  in  which  all 
America  has  saluted  as  a  link  of  union  the  eminent 
statesman  who  has  honored  us  with  his  presence, 
and,  in  his  person,  the  great  American  who,  for  the 
elevation  of  his  ideas  and  for  the  nobleness  of  his 
sentiments,  is  the  worthy  Chief  of  the  powerful 
Republic  which  serves  as  an  example,  as  a  stimulus, 
and  a  center  of  gravitation  for  the  political  and 
social  systems  of  America. 

14 


CORNFJO.  1 5 

Honorable  Minister,  your  country  sheds  its  heat 
and  light  over  all  the  peoples  of  the  continent,  which 
in  their  turn,  advancing  at  different  rates  of  velocity, 
but  in  the  same  direction,  along  the  line  of  progress, 
form  in  the  landscape  of  American  history  a  beauti- 
ful perspective  of  the  future,  reaching  to  a  horizon 
where  the  real  and  the  ideal  are  mingled,  and  on 
whose  blue  field  the  great  nationality  that  fills  all 
the  present  stands  out  in  bold  relief. 

These  congresses,  gentlemen,  are  the  symbol  of 
that  solidarity  which,  notwithstanding  the  ephemeral 
passions  of  men,  constitutes,  by  the  invincible  force 
of  circumstances,  the  essence  of  our  continental 
system.  They  were  conceived  by  the  organizing 
genius  of  the  statesmen  of  Washington,  in  order 
that  the  American  sentiment  of  patriotism  might  be 
therein  exalted,  freeing  it  from  that  national  egotism 
which  may  be  justified  in  the  difficult  moments  of 
the  formation  of  states,  but  which  would  be  to-day 
an  impediment  to  the  development  of  the  American 
idea,  destined  to  demonstrate  that  just  as  the  demo- 
cratic principle  has  been  to  combine  liberty  and 
order  in  the  constitution  of  states,  it  will  likewise 
combine  the  self-government  of  the  nations  and 
fraternity  in  the  relations  of  the  peoples. 

Honorable  Minister,  your  visit  has  given  im- 
pulse to  this  undertaking.  The  ideas  you  have 
presented  have  not  only  defined  the  interests,  but 
have  also  stirred  in  the  soul  of  America  all  her 
memories,  all  her  dreams,  and  all  her  ideals. 


1 6  CONFERENCE. 

It  is  as  if  the  centuries  had  awakened  in  their 
tombs  to  hail  the  dawn  of  a  hope  that  fills  them 
with  new  vigor  and  light. 

It  is  the  wish  of  Peru  that  this  hope  may  never 
be  extinguished  in  the  heart  of  America,  and  that 
the  illustrious  Delegates  who  will  sign  these  minutes 
may  remember  that  they  are  entering  into  a  solemn 
engagement  to  strive  for  the  cause  of  American 
solidarity. 


Speech  of  Doctor  Francisco  Ledn  de  la  Barra,  En- 
voy Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
from  the  United  States  of  Mexico  to  the  King- 
dom of  Belgium,  Delegate  from  Mexico. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  HONORABLE  MINISTERS,  AND  HON- 
ORABLE DELEGATES: 

The  Delegation  from  Mexico  has  the  honor  of 
seconding  the  motion  just  presented  by  the  Honora- 
ble Delegate  from  Peru. 

The  visit  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States  has  for  us  a  very  special  significance.  The 
eminent  co-worker  of  the  illustrious  President 
Roosevelt,  as  we  have  just  heard  in  the  beautiful 
address  we  have  enthusiastically  applauded,  brings 
us  the  good  wishes  of  the  First  Magistrate  of  his 
country  for  the  success  of  the  labors  of  this  Con- 
ference ;  and  they  will  bear  fruit,  because  they  are 
based  on  mutual  respect  for  the  rights  of  States. 

With  these  considerations  the  Delegation  from 
Mexico,  in  accordance  with  the  proposal  made  by 
the  Delegates  from  Peru,  respectfully  asks  the  Con- 
ference to  carry  it  by  acclamation.* 

*The  motion  was  carried  by  acclamation. 
R 2  I? 


Speech  of  Honorable  A.  J.  Montague,  former  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  Virginia,  Delegate  from 
the  United  States  of  America. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONFER- 
ENCE: 

If  in  disparagement  of  our  modesty,  yet  in  rec- 
ognition of  our  gratitude,  the  Delegates  from  the 
United  States  have  just  requested  me  to  express 
our  profound  appreciation  of  the  extraordinary 
courtesy  you  have  extended  to  our  country  in  the 
person  of  her  distinguished  and  able  Secretary  of 
State,  whose  wise  and  exalted  address  we  have  all 
heard  with  delight  and  satisfaction. 

However,  the  honors  you  have  paid  him,  and 
which  come  so  graciously  from  a  polite  and  hospit- 
able people,  convey  a  deeper  meaning,  for  in  them 
we  must  see  a  gratifying  evidence  of  that  American 
solidarity  which  unites  our  Republics  in  the  common 
development  of  popular  government,  energized  by 
liberty,  illumined  by  intelligence,  steadied  by  order, 
and  sustained  by  virtue.  The  liberty  of  law,  and 
the  opportunity  for  duty,  and  the  dignity  of  respon- 
sibility come  to  us  by  the  very  genius  of  our  insti- 
tutions. Therefore,  in  recognition  of  the  fraternity 

18 


MONTAGUE.  19 

which  inspires  the  greatest  tasks  which  have  yet 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  so  many  peoples,  working  to- 
gether for  a  common  end,  we  receive  your  compli- 
ment to  our  country,  and  for  this  purpose  I  have 
thus  detained  you  to  hear  this  imperfect  expression 
of  our  thanks. 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Baron  do  Rio  Branco, 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  United 
States  of  Brazil,  Honorary  President  of  the 
Conference. 

[Translation  from  the  Portuguese.] 

GENTLEMEN  : 

I  have  risen  merely  to  make  a  statement  which 
I  am  sure  will  be  received  with  pleasure  by  this 
illustrious  assembly. 

His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  Republic, 
in  remembrance  of  the  visit  paid  by  His  Excellency 
President  Roosevelt  to  this  building  in  St.  Louis, 
and  in  order  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  com- 
ing of  the  distinguished  Secretary  Elihu  Root  to 
this  country,  has  resolved  by  a  decree  bearing 
to-day's  date  to  give  to  this  edifice  in  which  the 
International  Pan-American  Conference  is  now  in 
session  the  name  of  Palacio  Monroe.* 

*The  PRESIDENT.  There  being  no  further  business  before  the  Con- 
ference, I  shall  close  the  session. 

The  Conference  was  then  adjourned. 


20 


II. 


Speeches  in 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Augusto  Montenegro, 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Para,  in  the  City  of 
Para  {Belem),  at  a  breakfast  given  by  him  to 
Mr.  Root,  July  17,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Portuguese.] 

I  will  say  but  a  few  words  to  drink  to  the  health 
of  Mr.  Root,  the  very  illustrious  Secretary  of  State 
of  the  United  State  of  North  America.  I  regret 
exceedingly  that  Mr.  Root  should  have  only  a  few 
hours  available  to  remain  among  us,  but  I  know  that 
his  time  is  limited  and  that  he  can  not  remain  among 
us  without  inconvenience;  however,  I  hope  that 
these  few  hours  which  his  excellency  has  devoted  to 
Para  will  have  been  sufficient  for  him  to  carry  away 
a  good  impression  of  this  region.  I  also  fervently 
hope  that  Mr.  Root's  visit  may  mark  the  beginning  of 
a  new  era  in  the  diplomacy  of  the  two  Americas,  and 
that,  if  possible,  it  may  contribute  still  further  to  a 
strengthening  of  the  friendly  ties  which  already  bind 
the  two  Republics  together.  I  also  hope  that  Mr. 
Root  will  gather  the  very  best  impressions  of  the 
whole  country  from  his  other  visits.  I  am  certain 
that  he  will  be  received  everywhere  with  that  cor- 
diality, hospitality,  and  affection  which  we  proudly 
proclaim  as  being  among  the  chief  characteristics  of 
the  Brazilians.  Before  concluding,  I  drink  to  the 
health  of  Mr.  Root  and  of  the  great  and  noble 
President  of  the  United  States  of  North  America. 

23 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


YOUR  EXCELLENCY  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  PARA  : 

I  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  your  kind  ex- 
pressions and  for  your  gracious  hospitality.  It  is 
with  the  greatest  pleasure  that  I  have  come  to  the 
great  Republic  of  Brazil,  that  I  might  by  my  pres- 
ence testify  to  the  high  consideration  entertained 
by  the  Republic  of  the  North  for  her  sister  Re- 
public; that  I  might  testify  to  the  strong  desire  of 
the  United  States  of  America  for  the  continuance 
of  the  growth  of  friendship  between  her  and  the 
United  States  of  Brazil.  Both  of  us — both  of  our 
countries — have  of  recent  years  been  growing  so 
great  and  rich  that  we  can  afford  now  to  visit  our 
friends,  and  also  to  entertain  our  friends.  Let  us 
therefore  know  each  other  better.  I  am  sure  that 
the  more  intimately  we  know  each  other  the  better 
friends  we  shall  be.  I  know  that  because  I  know 
the  feelings  of  my  countrymen,  and  I  know  it 
because  I  experience  your  whole-hearted  hospitality. 
It  has  been  a  delight  for  me  to  see  your  beauti- 
ful, bright,  and  cheerful  city,  which,  with  its  people 
happy  and  giving  evidence  of  well-being  and  pros- 
perity, with  its  comfortable  homes,  with  its  noble 
monuments,  with  its  great  public  buildings  and 

24 


ROOT.  25 

institutions  of  beneficence,  with  its  beautiful  flow- 
ers and  noble  trees,  justifies  all  that  I  had  dreamed 
of  in  this  august  city  of  the  great  empire  which 
reaches  from  the  Amazon  to  the  Uruguay. 

I  thank  you  for  your  reference  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  His  great,  strong,  human 
heart  beats  in  unison  with  everything  that  is  noble 
in  the  heart  of  any  nation  and  with  every  aspiration 
of  true  manhood.  Every  effort  tending  to  help  a 
people  on  in  civilization  and  in  prosperity  finds 
a  reflex  and  response  in  his  desire  for  their  happi- 
ness. He  is  a  true  and  genuine  friend  of  all  Ameri- 
cans, North  and  South.  In  his  name  I  thank  you 
for  the  welcome  you  have  given  me,  and  in  his 
name  I  propose  a  toast  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States  of  Brazil. 


Summary  of  speech  of  His  Excellency  Sigismundo 
Goncalvez,  Governor  of  the  State  of  Pernambuco, 
at  a  breakfast  given  by  him  to  Mr.  Root,  in  the 
City  of  Pernambuco  {Recife),  July  22,  1906. 


His  Excellency  Sigismundo  Gongalvez,  Gov- 
ernor of  Pernambuco,  said  that  he  had  never  felt  so 
strong  a  desire  to  speak  English  in  order  to  express 
the  satisfaction  he  felt  at  receiving  the  distinguished 
visitor,  and  after  wishing  the  Secretary  a  very 
pleasant  and  prosperous  voyage,  proposed  the  health 
of  President  Roosevelt.* 

*This  speech  was  not  reported,  and  therefore  can  not  be  repro- 
duced. 

26 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


YOUR  EXCELLENCY   THE  GOVERNOR  OF   PERNAM- 

BUCO,  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  regret  in  my  turn  that  I  can  not  respond  to 
you  in  the  language  of  the  great  race  which  has 
made  the  great  country  of  Brazil.  I  thank  you 
both  for  myself  and  in  behalf  of  my  country  for 
your  generous  hospitality  and  the  friendship  which 
you  have  exhibited.  It  is  the  sincere  desire  of  the 
President  and  of  all  the  people  of  the  United  States 
to  maintain  with  the  people  of  Brazil  a  firm,  sincere, 
and  helpful  friendship.  Much  as  we  differ,  in  many 
respects  we  are  alike.  Like  you,  our  fathers  fought 
for  their  country  against  savage  Indians.  Like 
you,  our  fathers  fought  to  maintain  their  race  in 
their  country  against  other  European  races.  It  is  a 
delight  for  me  on  these  historic  shores  to  come  to 
this  famous  place,  made  glorious  by  such  centuries  of 
heroic,  free,  and  noble  patriotism.  It  is  especially 
delightful  for  me  to  be  welcomed  here  where  the 
cause  of  human  freedom  received  the  powerful  and 
ever-memorable  support  of  a  native  of  Pernambuco, 
whose  name  is  dear  to  me,  Joaquim  Nabuco — a 
name  inherited  from  a  distinguished  ancestry  by  my 
good  friend,  your  illustrious  townsman,  the  present 

27 


28  BRAZIL. 

ambassador  of  Brazil  to  the  United  States.  It  is 
the  chief  function  of  an  ambassador  from  one  coun- 
try to  another  to  interpret  to  the  people  to  whom 
he  goes  the  people  from  whom  he  comes;  and  Joa- 
quim  Nabuco  has  presented  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  a  conception  of  Brazilians,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  men  of  Pernambuco,  as  admirable  and 
worthy  of  all  esteem.  He  is  our  friend,  and  because 
he  is  our  friend  we  wish  to  be  your  friends.  I  ask 
you  to  join  me  now  in  drinking  to  the  health  of  the 
President  of  the  Republic  of  Brazil. 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Senhor  Doctor  Jose"  Mar- 
celino  de  Souza,  Governor  of  Bahia,  at  a  ban- 
quet given  by  him  to  Mr.  Root,  at  Bahia,  July 
24,  1906. 

[Translation  from  the  Portuguese.] 

GENTLEMEN  : 

It  is  not  without  reason  that  the  entire  world  is 
elated  at  the  grand  spectacle  exhibited  in  the  New 
World  congregating  its  free  and  independent  peo- 
ples in  order  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  lasting 
peace. 

In  fact,  the  Old  World  looks  on  with  sincere 
admiration  at  the  complete  demolition  of  the  ancient 
precepts  of  international  law.  Ever  since  the  right 
of  the  stronger  has  ceased  to  supersede  the  sound 
principles  of  justice ;  ever  since  the  divine  philoso- 
phy of  the  Jews  taught  men  brotherly  love  for  one 
another,  the  ancient  international  law  underwent 
profound  transformations. 

Notwithstanding  this,  however,  for  a  long  time 
armies  and  costly  navies  continued  to  weigh  down 
our  public  treasuries  and  the  cannon  to  decide 
questions  arising  among  nations. 

Now,  all  Europe  has  its  eyes  turned  towards 
America,  which  has  noteworthily  constituted  itself 
the  apostle  of  peace. 

29 


3O  BRAZIL. 

For  a  long  time  the  American  peoples  have  been 
settling  their  difficulties  by  means  of  arbitration. 

It  is  this  policy  that  is  seen  to  be  manifesting 
itself  since  the  downfall  of  the  ancient  institute  of 
international  law  which,  instead  of  causing  the  peo- 
ple on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  fear,  ought  to 
fill  them  with  joy  because  it  tightens  the  interna- 
tional, economic,  and  commercial  relations  of  this 
planet. 

These  are  the  aims  and  objects  of  pan-Ameri- 
canism. 

It  does  not  inculcate  war.  Its  gospel  is  concord. 
It  has  seen  what  a  little  while  ago  was  nothing  more 
than  the  dream  of  poets,  the  ideal  of  philosophers, 
develop  into  a  reality. 

Gentlemen,  America  must  grow  up,  but  intrench- 
ing itself  with  peace,  and  growing  not  by  the  aug- 
mentation of  the  sinews  of  war  but  by  systematizing 
and  utilizing  the  resources  of  her  economic  force. 

This  is  the  ideal  of  American  nations.  There- 
fore, although  the  other  continents  have  long  feared 
this  propaganda,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  I  repeat,  that  she 
will  carry  out  her  program  of  love  and  of  confra- 
ternization,  because  thus  America  will  have  estab- 
lished international  and  economic  relations  with  the 
entire  world  upon  indestructible  foundations. 

The  Honorable  Elihu  Root,  the  herald  of  the 
prosperous  and  powerful  North  American  Republic, 
who  brings  to  Brazil  the  assurance  of  his  friendship 
and  the  most  hearty  support  to  the  Pan-American 


SOUZA.  31 

Congress  whose  Third  Conference  has  just  been 
opened  at  Rio,  is  the  most  important  missionary  of 
that  gospel. 

The  presence  of  his  excellency  in  that  note- 
worthy assemblage  is  the  assurance  of  reconciliation, 
of  the  growth  of  the  free  people  of  America. 

Bahia,  an  important  part  of  the  Brazilian  Fed- 
eration, which  receives  the  testimonial  of  friendship 
from  the  great  Republic  of  the  North,  through  its 
Secretary  of  State,  can  not  help  but  feel  the  great- 
est joy  at  foreseeing  the  great  results  of  that  Con- 
ference and  of  this  auspicious  visit,  which  assumes 
the  proportions  of  an  embassy,  of  an  appeal  to  the 
Republics  of  the  new  continent  for  the  inaugura- 
tion of  inseparable  bonds  of  mutual  solidarity,  for 
the  concerted  effort  to  compel  the  disappearance  of 
the  sad  note  of  war. 

In  the  shadow  of  the  solemn  inauguration  of 
pan-Americanism,  three  nations  of  Central  America 
found  themselves  in  the  battlefield  in  the  deplora- 
ble spectacle  of  hatred  and  bloodshed. 

Happily,  as  is  announced  by  telegraph,  thanks 
to  the  good  offices  of  the  United  States  and  of 
Mexico,  peace  has  been  established  among  the 
nations,  to  the  honor  of  the  Christian  civilization 
of  our  continent. 

This  policy  of  concord,  therefore,  accomplishes 
good.  I  repeat,  America  must  prosper.  It  is  neces- 
sary that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  triumph,  not  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  civilization  of  the  Old  World,  but 
to  the  benefit  of  all  humanity. 


32  BRAZIL. 

Nature  has  cut  the  continent  from  north  to  south 
without  regard  to  its  continuity ;  from  north  to 
south  is  the  same  political  regime;  and  protecting 
it  with  two  great  nations,  nature  has  not  wished  to 
isolate  us  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  on  the 
contrary  to  endow  us  with  sources  of  wealth  and  to 
multiply  the  means  of  easy  communication  with 
centers  of  civilization. 

Gentlemen,  in  the  name  of  Bahia,  I  greet  the 
great  ideal  of  humanity  that  is  treading  a  victorious 
path !  I  greet  the  Republic  of  North  America,  the 
efficient  collaborator  in  this  profoundly  humane 
policy,  the  principal  cause  of  the  Pan-American 
Conference,  in  the  person  of  its  illustrious  Secretary 
of  State,  Elihu  Root ! 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


YOUR  EXCELLENCY  THE   GOVERNOR;  GENTLEMEN 

AND  LADIES  : 

I  beg  to  acknowledge  with  sincere  appreciation 
your  kindly  and  most  flattering  expressions  regard- 
ing myself.  I  receive  with  joy  the  expression  of 
sentiments  regarding  my  country,  which  I  hope  may 
be  shared  by  every  citizen  of  the  great  Republic  of 
Brazil.  It  is  with  much  sentiment  that  I  find  myself 
at  the  gateway  of  the  south  through  which  the  civili- 
zation of  Europe  entered  from  the  Iberian  Peninsula 
the  vast  regions  of  South  America.  I  whose  fathers 
came  through  the  northern  gateway,  on  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  thousands  of  miles  away — where  the  win- 
ters bring  ice  and  snow  and  where  a  rugged  soil 
greeted  the  first  adventurers — find  here  another 
people  working  out  for  themselves  the  same  prob- 
lems of  self-government,  seeking  the  same  goal  of 
individual  liberty,  of  peace,  of  prosperity,  that  we 
have  been  seeking  in  the  far  north  for  so  many 
years.  We  are  alike  in  that  we  have  no  concern 
in  the  primary  objects  of  European  diplomacy;  we 
are  free  from  the  traditions,  from  the  controver- 
sies, which  the  close  neighborhood  of  centuries  on 

R 3  33 


34  BRAZIL. 

the  continent  of  Europe  has  created — free,  thank 
Heaven,  from  necessity  for  the  maintenance  of  great 
armies  and  great  navies  to  guard  our  frontiers,  leav- 
ing us  to  give  our  minds  to  the  problem  of  building 
up  governments  by  the  people  which  shall  give 
prosperity  and  peace  and  individual  opportunity  to 
every  citizen.  In  this  great  work  it  is  my  firm 
belief  that  we  can  greatly  assist  each  other,  if  it  be 
only  by  sympathy  and  friendship,  by  intercourse, 
exchange  of  opinions  and  experience,  each  giving 
to  the  other  the  benefits  of  its  success,  and  helping 
the  other  to  find  out  the  causes  of  its  failures. 
We  can  both  aid  each  other  by  the  peaceful  ex- 
changes of  trade.  Our  trade — yes,  our  trade  is 
valuable,  and  may  it  increase ;  may  it  increase  to  the 
wealth  and  prosperity  of  both  nations.  But  there 
is  something  more  than  trade;  there  is  the  aspi- 
ration to  make  life  worth  the  living,  that  uplifts 
humanity.  To  accomplish  success  in  this  is  the  goal 
which  we  seek  to  attain.  There  is  the  happiness  of 
life ;  and  what  is  trade  if  it  does  not  bring  happi- 
ness to  life?  In  this  the  dissimilarity  of  our  peoples 
may  enable  us  to  aid  each  other.  We  of  the  north 
are  somewhat  more  sturdy  in  our  efforts,  and  there 
are  those  who  claim  we  work  too  hard.  We  are  too 
strenuous  in  our  lives.  I  wish  that  my  people  could 
gather  some  of  the  charm  and  grace  of  living  in 
Bahia.  We  may  give  to  you  some  added  strength 
and  strenuousness ;  you  may  give  to  us  some  of  the 
beauty  of  life.  I  wish  I  could  make  you  feel — I 


ROOT.  35 

wish  still  more  that  I  could  make  my  countrymen 
feel — what  delight  I  experience  in  visiting  your 
city,  and  in  observing  the  delightful  combination  of 
the  bright,  cheerful  colors  which  adorn  your  homes 
and  daily  life,  with  the  beautiful  tones  that  time  has 
given  to  the  century-old  walls  and  battlements  that 
look  down  upon  your  noble  bay.  The  combina- 
tion has  seemed  to  me,  as  I  have  looked  upon  it 
to-day,  to  be  most  remarkable,  and  these  varying 
scenes  of  beauty  have  seemed  to  be  suggestive  of 
what  nations  can  do  for  each  other,  some  giving  the 
beauty  and  the  tender  tones,  some  giving  the  sturdy 
and  strenuous  effort.  May  the  intercourse  between 
the  people  of  the  north  and  the  people  of  Brazil 
hereafter  not  be  confined  to  an  occasional  visitor. 
May  the  advance  of  transportation  bring  new  and 
swift  steamship  lines  to  be  established  between  the 
coasts  of  North  and  South  America.  May  we  hope 
by  frequently  visiting  each  other  to  make  our  peo- 
ples strong  in  intercourse  and  friendship.  May  we 
be  of  mutual  advantage  and  help  to  each  other 
along  the  pathway  of  common  prosperity,  and  may 
my  people  ever  be  mindful  of  the  honor  which  you 
have  done  to  them,  through  the  gracious  and  bounti- 
ful hospitality  with  which  you  have  made  me  happy! 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Baron  do  Rio  Branco, 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  at  a  banquet  given 
by  him  to  Mr.  Root  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  July  28, 
1906. 



MR.  SECRETARY  OF  STATE: 

The  enthusiastic  and  cordial  welcome  you  have 
received  in  Brazil  must  certainly  have  convinced 
you  that  this  country  is  a  true  friend  of  your  own. 

This  friendship  is  of  long  standing.  It  dates 
from  the  first  days  of  our  independence,  which  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  was  the  first  to 
recognize,  as  the  Government  of  Brazil  was  the 
first  to  applaud  the  terms  and  spirit  of  the  declara- 
tions contained  in  the  famous  message  of  President 
Monroe.  Time  has  but  increased,  in  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  successive  generations  of  Brazilians,  the 
sympathy  and  admiration  which  the  founders  of  our 
nationality  felt  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  manifestations  of  friendship  for  the  United 
States  which  you  have  witnessed  come  from  all  the 
Brazilian  people,  and  not  from  the  official  world 
alone,  and  it  is  our  earnest  desire  that  this  friend- 
ship, which  has  never  been  disturbed  in  the  past, 
may  continue  forever  and  grow  constantly  closer 
and  stronger. 

36 


RIO    BRANCO.  37 

Gentlemen,  I  drink  to  the  health  of  the  distin- 
guished Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  Mr.  Elihu  Root,  who  has  so  brilliantly 
and  effectively  aided  President  Roosevelt  in  the 
great  work  of  the  political  approximation  of  the 
American  nations. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


YOUR  EXCELLENCY  : 

I  thank  you  again  and  still  again  for  the  gener- 
ous hospitality  which  is  making  my  reception  in 
Brazil  so  charming. 

Coming  here  as  head  of  the  Department  of  For- 
eign Affairs  of  my  country  and  seated  at  the  table  of 
the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  great  Republic 
of  Brazil,  where  I  am  your  guest,  I  am  forcibly 
reminded  of  the  change  which,  within  the  last  few 
years,  has  taken  place  in  the  diplomacy  of  the  world, 
leading  to  a  modern  diplomacy  that  consists  of 
telling  the  truth,  a  result  of  the  government  of  the 
people  by  the  people,  which  is  in  our  days  taking 
the  place  of  personal  government  by  sovereigns.  It 
is  the  people  who  make  peace  or  war ;  their  desires, 
their  sentiments,  affections,  and  prejudices  are  the 
great  and  important  factors  which  diplomacy  has  to 
consult,  which  diplomats  have  to  interpret,  and 
which  they  have  to  obey.  Modern  diplomacy  is 
frank,  because  modern  democracies  have  no  secrets ; 
they  endeavor  not  only  to  know  the  truth,  but  also 
to  express  it. 

And  in  this  way  I  have  come  here  as  your  guest  ; 
not  because  the  fertile  or  ingenious  mind  of  some 

38 


ROOT.  39 

ruler  has  deemed  it  judicious  or  convenient,  but 
because  my  visit  naturally  represents  the  friendship 
which  the  eighty  million  inhabitants  of  the  great 
Republic  of  the  North  have  for  the  twenty  million 
people  of  Brazil ;  and  it  is  a  just  interpretation  of 
that  friendship.  The  depth  of  sentiment  which  in 
me  corresponds  to  your  kind  reception  results  from 
the  knowledge  I  have  that  the  cordiality  which 
I  find  here  represents  in  reality  the  friendship 
that  Brazilians  entertain  for  my  dear  country. 
Not  in  my  personal  name  or  as  representative  of 
an  isolated  individual,  but  in  the  name  of  all  the 
people  of  my  country  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  great 
declaration  mentioned  by  you,  Mr.  Minister,  the 
declaration  known  by  the  name  of  Monroe,  and 
which  was  the  bulwark  and  safeguard  of  Latin 
America  from  the  dawn  of  its  independence,  I  raise 
my  glass,  certain  that  all  present  will  unite  with  me 
in  a  toast  to  the  progress,  prosperity,  and  happiness 
of  the  Brazilian  Republic. 


Speech  of  Senator  Ruy  Barbosa. 


MR.  ROOT;  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

After  Mr.  Root's  admirable  speech,  after  an 
orator  such  as  Mr.  Root,  and  so  inspired  as  he  has 
been,  nobody  should  have  the  courage  to  speak. 
Nevertheless,  I  do  not  know  how  to  resist  the  wishes 
of  our  amiable  amphictyon,  our  eminent  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  as  well  as  those  of  the  gracious 
neighbors  who  surround  me  here.  This  is  quite  an 
unexpected  surprise  for  me ;  but  it  comes  from  so 
high,  and  in  so  imperious  a  way,  that  I  can  not  but 
submit,  hoping  you  will  be  indulgent. 

We  have  felt  in  Mr.  Root's  words  the  vibration 
of  American  soul  in  all  its  intensity,  in  all  its  elo- 
quence, in  all  its  power,  in  all  its  trustiness.  So 
they  could  not  have  a  better  answer  than  the  ap- 
plauses of  so  brilliant  an  audience — the  general  and 
enthusiastic  applauses,  which  have  just  greeted  his 
remarkable  speech.  However,  since  the  task  of 
rendering  the  echo  of  Mr.  Root's  words  in  our 
hearts  devolves  upon  me,  I  can  not  perform  it 
truthfully  but  by  thanking  him  "again  and  still 
again"  (in  Mr.  Root's  expressions  just  now),  than 
by  thanking  him  once  more  for  his  beneficent  visit 
to  Brazil. 
40 


RUY    BARBOSA.  4! 

We  suppose,  Mr.  Root,  that  it  does  not  come 
only  from  you.  We  are  sure  that  you  would  not 
take  this  far-reaching  step  unless  you  counted,  with- 
out a  shadow  of  doubt,  upon  the  sanction  of  American 
opinion.  And  knowing  as  we  do  that  the  United 
States  are,  from  every  standpoint,  the  most  complete 
and  dazzling  success  among  modern  nations,  admir- 
ing them  as  the  honor  and  pride  of  our  continent, 
we  rejoice,  we  exult,  to  open  our  home,  our  bosom, 
the  arms  of  our  modest  and  honest  hospitality,  to  the 
giant  of  the  Republics,  to  the  mother  of  American 
democracies,  in  the  person  of  her  own  Government, 
one  of  whose  strongest  and  noblest  functions  centers 
there  in  the  Secretary  of  State. 

Our  life  as  an  independent  nation  is  not  yet  a 
long  one.  We  are,  as  such,  only  about  eighty 
years  old,  albeit  this  may  not  be  a  very  brief  period 
in  these  days  of  ours,  when  time  should  not  be 
measured  by  the  number  of  years,  inasmuch  as  not 
a  great  deal  more  than  a  century  has  been  enough 
for  the  United  States  to  become  one  of  the  greatest 
powers  in  the  world.  Short  as  it  is,  however,  our 
national  existence  has  not  been  devoid  of  noble 
dates,  of  fruitful  and  memorable  events. 

Amidst  them,  Mr.  Root,  this  one  will  stand  for- 
ever as  a  blessed  landmark,  or  rather  as  the  gushing 
out  of  a  new  political  stream,  whose  wares  of  peace, 
of  freedom,  of  morality,  shall  spread  by  and  by  all 
over  the  immensity  of  our  continent. 

This  is  our  wish,  our  aspiration,  and,  I  will  not 


42  BRAZIL. 

say  our  dream,  but  our 'hope.  You  must  have  felt  it, 
and  will  continue  to  feel  it,  at  the  throbbing  of  our 
national  arteries,  in  Recife,  in  Bahia,  now  in  this 
capital,  and  to-morrow  in  Sao  Paulo. 

Don't  see  in  my  words  the  looming  of  a  mo- 
mentous sensation.  No!  They  do  not  tell  my 
own  impressions  as  an  individual.  They  convey 
truthfully  the  voice  of  the  people  through  the  lips  of 
a  man  who  does  not  serve  other  interests.  They 
only  anticipate,  I  believe,  what  you  shall  hear  from 
our  legislative  representation,  in  the  highest  demon- 
stration of  public  feeling  possible  under  a  popular 
government,  and  that  the  historic  scene  of  La- 
fayette, the  liberal  French  soldier,  the  fellow-helper 
in  American  independence,  being  received  in  the 
American  House  of  Representatives,  shall  find  a 
worthy  imitation  in  the  reception  of  the  great 
American  Minister,  the  daring  promoter  of  union 
in  the  American  continent,  by  the  two  Houses  of 
our  National  Congress. 

So  let  us  raise  our  cup  to  the  northern  colossus, 
the  model  of  liberal  Republics,  the  United  States 
of  America,  in  their  living  and  vigorous  personifi- 
cation, in  their  image  visible  and  cherished  among 
us,  Mr.  Elihu  Root. 


Speech  of  Senator  Ruy  Barbosa  in  the  Federal 
Senate  of  Brazil,  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  August  2, 
1906. 

[Translation  from  the  Portuguese.] 

If  your  excellency  will  permit  me,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, I  will  call  your  attention  and  that  of  the  Sen- 
ate to  the  fact  that  at  this  moment  this  House  is 
honored  by  the  presence,  in  one  of  the  galleries,  of 
Mr.  Elihu  Root,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States. 

For  a  week  his  stay  among  us  has  been  spread- 
ing interest  throughout  the  country  and  filling  the 
capital  with  joy,  causing  excitement  among  the 
neighboring  nations  and  fixing  the  eyes  of  Europe 
on  this  obscure  part  of  the  world.  The  fact  is  that 
we  are  not  only  in  the  presence  of  an  individual  of 
great  renown,  who  is  one  of  the  highest  personages 
among  contemporaneous  statesmen,  with  a  reputa- 
tion which  is  dear  to  the  Western  Hemisphere,  but 
we  are  experiencing  an  event  of  the  most  far-reach- 
ing international  importance,  in  the  sense  in  which 
this  word  corresponds  most  palpably  to  the  common 
interests  of  the  human  race. 

In  the  organization  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  the  portfolio  of  Secretary  of  State 

43 


44  BRAZIL. 

constitutes  a  notably  characteristic  and  peculiar  fea- 
ture. He  is  not  merely,  as  commonly  supposed,  a 
minister  for  foreign  affairs,  but  is  moreover  the 
guardian  of  the  seals  of  state,  the  medium  through 
whom  the  laws  are  promulgated,  the  census-taker  of 
the  national  population,  the  depositary  of  the  gov- 
ernment archives,  and  the  first  assistant  of  the  Chief 
Executive.  Tradition  has  conferred  upon  him  a 
dignity  next  to  that  of  President,  the  law  making 
him  first  in  the  order  of  succession  to  the  Presidency 
by  vacancy  of  the  office,  while  it  has  become  the 
custom  for  the  President  to  invite  him  to  partici- 
pate in  the  performance  of  his  duties  rather  as  a  col- 
league and  associate  than  as  an  adviser  and  servant. 
The  triumphant  candidate  in  a  Presidential  election 
has  at  times  called  to  this  office  his  vanquished  op- 
ponent, thus  showing  the  homage  paid  by  party 
spirit  to  the  value  of  merit.  Being  popularly  des- 
ignated as  head  of  the  Cabinet,  and  being  granted 
the  honors  of  precedence  at  diplomatic  functions, 
his  high  political  entity  inscribes  him,  together  with 
the  head  of  the  nation,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  the  chairmen  of  the  two  great  financial  com- 
mittees of  that  House  of  Congress,  among  the  five 
or  six  personalities  whose  influence  usually  directs 
the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

But  a  true  idea  of  this  eminent  position  can  not 
be  formed  without  some  light  on  its  history,  for  the 
line  of  Secretaries  of  State  sparkles  with  the  almost 


RUY    BARBOSA.  45 

continuous  luster,  of  a  long,  luminous  zone,  in  which 
irridiate  the  dazzling  names  of  Jefferson,  one  of  the 
patriarchs  of  independence  and  in  the  foundation 
and  organization  of  the  United  States — the  philoso- 
pher, the  writer,  the  statesman,  the  creator  of  par- 
ties, the  systematizer  of  popular  education,  and  the 
twice-elected  successor  of  Washington;  of  Ran- 
dolph, through  whose  initiative  the  stain  produced 
by  the  word  slavery  was  effaced  from  the  provisional 
draft  of  the  American  Constitution ;  of  Marshall, 
the  greatest  of  magistrates  and  the  most  eminent 
jurist  in  the  Republic,  the  oracle  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  constructor  of  the  Federal  law ;  of 
Madison,  the  antagonist  of  traffic  and  the  emulator 
of  Hamilton  in  the  editing  of  the  Federalist;  of 
Monroe,  the  asserter  of  the  international  doctrine  of 
the  independence  of  this  continent ;  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,  the  pioneer  of  abolitionism  in  his  radical  con- 
demnation of  slavery ;  of  Clay,  the  warm  defender 
of  the  South  American  colonies  in  their  struggle 
for  emancipation ;  of  Webster,  the  Demosthenes  of 
the  Union  and  of  American  liberty ;  of  Seward,  the 
rival  for  election  of  Lincoln,  but  who,  being  de- 
feated by  the  latter,  was  invited  by  him  to  form 
part  of  his  Cabinet ;  of  Forsyth,  Calhoun,  Everett, 
Marcy,  Evarts,  Elaine,  Bayard,  and  Hay.  It  is  a 
path  of  stars,  at  the  termination  of  which  the  admin- 
istration of  Mr.  Elihu  Root  does  not  pale. 

The  annals  of  the  United  States  could  be  traced 
by  the  route  of  this  numerous  constellation,  whose 


46  BRAZIL. 

radiant  points  sparkle  around  yon  apex,  to  send  forth 
their  beams  to-day  from  yon  gallery,  illumining  the 
Brazilian  Senate,  transfiguring  the  scene  of  our  ordi- 
nary deliberations,  and  realizing,  with  the  pomp  of 
the  evocation  of  this  glorious  past,  the  spectacle  of 
the  visit  of  one  nation  to  the  other  which  the  illus- 
trious Secretary  of  State  presented  before  our  eyes 
when,  a  few  days  ago,  he  said  in  response  to  our 
eminent  and  worthy  Minister  for  Foreign  Relations 
that  his  coming  in  the  official  capacity  of  his  office 
to  the  land  of  the  Cruzeiro  constitutes  a  natural  ex- 
pression of  the  friendship  which  the  eighty  millions 
of  inhabitants  of  the  great  Republic  of  the  North 
utter  toward  the  twenty  million  souls  of  the  Repub- 
lic of  Brazil. 

It  is  not,  then,  a  diplomatic  representation.  It 
is  not  an  embassy.  It  is  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  itself  in  person,  in  one  of  its  predomi- 
nant organs — an  organ  so  exalted  that  it  holds  almost 
as  high  a  position  there  in  the  national  sentiment  as 
the  Presidency  itself.  For  the  first  time  is  the  North 
American  Union  visiting  another  part  of  the  conti- 
nent— Latin  America.  And  this  direct,  personal, 
and  most  solemn  visit  of  one  America  to  the  other 
has  now  as  its  scene  the  Brazilian  Senate,  assuming, 
within  the  brief  dimensions  of  this  chamber,  the 
magnificent  proportions  of  a  picture  for  which  our 
nation  constitutes  the  frame  and  the  attentive  circle 
of  the  nations  the  gallery. 

For  the  modest  importance  of  our  nation  the 
event  is  of  incomparable  significance.  None  other 


RUY    BARBOSA.  47 

can  be  likened  to  it  in  the  history  of  our  existence 
as  a  Republic.  After  sixteen  years  of  embarrass- 
ments, perils,  and  conflicts,  the  latter  appears  to  be 
receiving  its  final  consecration  in  this  solemnity.  It 
is  the  grand  recognition  of  our  democracy,  the  proc- 
lamation of  the  attainment  of  our  majority  as  a 
Republic.  The  stability  of  the  Government,  its 
prestige,  its  honor,  and  its  vigor  could  not  have 
received  a  greater  attestation  before  the  world. 
Replying  to  the  doubts,  the  negations,  and  the 
affronts  with  which  our  '89  was  received,  amidst 
passions  at  home  and  prejudices  abroad,  it  signifies 
the  irrevocable  triumph  of  our  revolution,  closes 
forever  the  era  of  monarchical  revindications,  and 
opens  up  our  future  to  order,  confidence,  and  labor. 

Almost  all  of  us  who  compose  this  assembly,  Mr. 
President,  belong  to  that  generation  who  were  open- 
ing their  eyes  to  public  life  or  were  preparing  for  it 
by  their  higher  studies  when  the  struggle  was  going 
on  in  the  United  States  between  slavery  and  free- 
dom— that  campaign  of  Titans  which  tore  the 
entrails  of  America  and  shook  the  globe  for  many 
years. 

Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madison  had  died 
despairing  of  the  extinction  of  slavery.  The  latter 
being  openly  proclaimed  as  the  corner  stone  of  the 
Confederacy,  which  gloried  in  having  as  its  basis 
and  in  holding  as  a  supreme  truth  the  subjection  by 
Providence  and  the  eternal  enslavement  of  one  race 
by  the  other,  it  looked  as  if  the  work  of  the  patri- 


archs  of  1787  was  doomed  to  inevitable  destruction 
against  the  black  rock,  thus  consummating  the  Jef- 
fersonian  prophecy. 

But  Christian  order  prevailed  against  the  chaos 
of  servile  interests,  showing  that  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  was  not  that  "league  with  death" 
and  that  "compact  with  hell"  which  it  was  boldly 
denounced  to  be  by  Garrison  upon  the  breaking  out 
of  the  abolitionist  reaction.  And  when  the  Union 
rose  again,  still  clinging  to  liberty,  on  the  ruins  of 
slavery  and  dismemberment,  we  who  had  heard  the 
earthquake,  we  who  had  witnessed  the  opening  of 
the  abyss,  we  who  had  seen  swallowed  up  in  it  a 
million  lives  and  an  incalculable  amount  of  wealth, 
and  knew  of  the  misfortunes  and  tears  it  had  caused, 
were  surprised  by  the  divine  dawn  which  finally 
appeared  with  the  consoling  victory  of  justice,  and 
we  felt  the  penetration  of  its  rays  here  into  the 
depths  of  the  Brazilian  conscience,  realizing,  with  a 
holy  horror  of  the  tragedy  of  which  we  had  just 
been  the  witnesses,  that  we  were  still  a  country  of 
slaves. 

Very  soon,  however,  the  law  of  September  28, 
1874,  immediately  thereafter  Brazilian  abolitionism, 
and  shortly  thereafter  the  brilliant  stroke  of  aboli- 
tion in  1888  responded  to  the  splendid  American 
lesson  by  our  purification  from  this  stigma. 

And  if  we  adopted  this  lesson  in  1889  and  1891, 
when  we  embraced  the  federal  system  and  framed  a 
republican  constitution,  it  was  not,  as  has  been  said, 
in  obedience  to  the  wishes,  caprices,  or  predilections 


RUY    BARBOSA.  49 

of  theorists.  Ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  past 
century  the  liberal  spirit  among  us  had  become 
imbued  with  Americanism  through  reading  the 
Federalist.  The  ideas  of  federation  carried  away 
the  Brazilian  Liberals  in  1831.  The  condemnation 
of  the  Monarchy  in  Brazil  involved  fundamentally 
that  of  the  administrative  centralization  and  the 
single-headed  form  of  government  which  were  em- 
bodied in  that  regime.  The  United  States  gave  us 
the  first  model  and  up  to  that  time  had  furnished 
us  the  only  example  of  a  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment extending  over  a  territorial  expanse  such 
as  only  monarchies  had  previously  shown  themselves 
capable  of  governing.  The  dilemma  was  inevitable. 
We  had  either  to  adhere  to  the  European  solution, 
which  is  a  constitutional  royalty,  or  else  establish  a 
republic  on  the  American  model. 

Of  course,  gentlemen,  we  are  still  to-day  as  far 
from  the  perfect  model  which  the  United  States 
present  of  a  federal  republic  as  we  were  from  Eng- 
land under  the  parliamentary  monarchy,  although 
England  was  the  example  we  followed  in  that 
regime,  just  as  the  United  States  are  our  example 
in  our  present  Government.  But  just  as  our  back- 
wardness in  parliamentary  customs  was  no  cause 
for  us  to  revert  from  a  constitutional  to  an  abso- 
lute monarchy,  so  neither  is  the  insufficiency  of  our 
republican  customs  a  reason  for  our  abandoning  the 
federal  republic.  There  are  no  conditions  more 
favorable  for  the  political  education  of  a  nation  than 
those  presented  by  our  constitutional  mechanism, 


5O  BRAZIL. 

modeled  after  the  American  type ;  nor  could  a  prac- 
tical schooling  be  offered  us  for  such  education 
equal  to  that  of  an  intimate  approximation  between 
us  and  our  great  model,  our  relations  of  all  kinds 
with  the  United  States  being  drawn  closer  and 
multiplied. 

Between  them  and  us  there  was  interposed  the 
stupid,  sullen  wall  of  prejudices  and  suspicions  with 
which  weakness  naturally  imagines  to  shelter  and 
protect  itself  from  force.  But  this  wall  is  cracking, 
tottering,  and  beginning  to  crumble  to  ruins  under 
the  action  of  the  soil  and  the  atmosphere — under 
the  influx  of  the  sentiments  awakened  by  this  great 
movement  of  policy  of  the  United  States  toward 
the  other  American  nations. 

In  this  attitude,  in  the  transparent  clearness  of 
its  intentions,  in  the  eloquence  of  its  language,  and 
in  the  manifest  frankness  of  its  promises,  there 
stands  forth  a  broad  image  of  truthfulness  which 
may  be  likened  to  those  breezes  in  the  sky  on 
bright  and  sunny  days  which  clear  the  horizon, 
cause  the  azure  of  the  firmament  to  pervade  our 
souls,  and  communicate  the  energy  of  life  to  our 
lungs.  May  God  sustain  the  strong  in  this  spirit 
of  magnanimity,  which  is  as  advantageous  to  them- 
selves as  to  the  weak,  and  may  He  illumine  the 
minds  of  the  weak  with  an  understanding  of  a  situ- 
ation which,  mutually  comprehended  and  main- 
tained with  firmness  and  honesty,  will  be  productive 
of  incalculable  benefits  for  both  parties ! 


RUY    BARBOSA.  5! 

The  United  States  would  already,  long  ago,  have 
exhausted  the  admiration  of  the  universe  by  the 
constant  marvels  of  their  greatness  if  they  were  not 
continually  surpassing  themselves. 

I  do  not  allude  to  their  wonderful  fecundity, 
which  in  a  hundred  years  has  raised  their  population 
from  five  to  eighty  millions  of  souls. 

I  do  not  speak  of  the  greatness  of  their  expan- 
sion, which  has  almost  quintupled  their  territorial 
area  in  one  century ;  I  do  not  refer  to  the  greatness 
of  their  military  prowess,  which  has  never  yet  met  a 
conqueror  either  by  land  or  sea.  Neither  am  I 
occupying  myself  with  the  greatness  of  their  opu- 
lence, which  is  tending  to  transfer  from  London  to 
New  York  the  center  of  the  capital  and  of  the 
money  market  of  the  world.  I  am  thinking  only 
of  their  benefits  to  democracy,  to  right,  and  to 
civilization. 

Their  fundamental  principles  as  colonies  were 
based  on  religious  freedom.  Their  first  charters 
embodied  the  essences  of  liberty  of  the  British  con- 
stitution. The  declarations  of  rights  of  their  first 
States  came  from  and  originated  in  the  French 
Revolution.  Their  Federal  Constitution  is  con- 
sidered by  the  best  judges  as  the  highest  product  of 
political  genius  extant  among  mankind.  The  unre- 
latable  five  years  of  their  civil  war  constituted  a 
most  tremendous  sacrifice,  made  by  the  superhuman 
heroism  of  a  nation  in  the  higher  interests  of 
humanity — for  the  principle  of  human  freedom. 


52  BRAZIL. 

Their  international  influence  is  frequently  exerted 
in  the  great  causes  of  Christianity  and  civilization, 
first  struggling  as  they  did  against  piracy  in  the 
Mediterranean,  then  opening  the  doors  of  Japan 
to  the  commerce  of  the  world  in  the  Pacific,  or 
fighting  for  the  Armenians  against  Ottoman  des- 
potism, or  intervening  in  behalf  of  the  Jews  against 
the  tyranny  of  the  Muscovite;  here  sympathizing 
with  South  America  against  Spain,  with  Greece 
against  Turkey,  and  with  Hungary  against  Austria; 
there  promoting  that  memorable  peace  between  the 
Russians  and  Japanese  at  Portsmouth,  which  termi- 
nated one  of  the  most  horrible  hecatombs  of  peoples 
on  record  in  the  history  of  warfare.  The  methods 
and  rules  of  their  teaching,  the  inspiration  of  their 
inventors,  the  penetrating  nature  of  their  institu- 
tions, the  reproductive  influence  of  their  examples, 
the  contagious  activity  of  their  doctrines,  the  active 
proselytism  of  their  reforms,  the  irresistible  fascina- 
tion of  their  originality,  the  exuberant  florescence 
of  their  Christianity — all  exert  a  profound  influence 
on  European  culture  and  on  the  morals,  the  poli- 
tics, and  the  destinies  of  the  world,  and  guide,  im- 
prove, and  transform  the  American  nations. 

Nothing,  however,  could  be  conceived  which 
would  more  magnificently  crown  this  miraculous 
career  and  assure  forever  to  that  nation  the  title, 
par  excellence,  of  the  civilizer  among  nations,  serv- 
ing the  interests  of  its  own  prosperity  as  well  as 
ours  by  a  sincere,  effective,  and  tenacious  adherence 


RUY    BARBOSA.  53 

-to  the  doctrine  announced  by  Mr.  Root,  namely, 
the  doctrine  of  mutual  respect  and  friendship,  of 
progressive  cooperation  among  the  American  States, 
large  or  small,  weak  or  strong;  abandoning  foolish 
race  prejudices  and  admitting  the  superior  power  of 
imitation,  science,  and  modern  inventions,  which  are 
the  moral  factors  in  the  development  of  peoples; 
and  recognizing  the  natural  truth  that  the  growing 
evolution  of  the  human  race  must  embrace  in  its 
orbit  of  light  all  the  civilized  nations  on  this  and 
the  other  continent. 

Everything  in  the  visit  of  Mr.  Root,  everything 
in  his  words,  in  his  acts,  in  the  impressions  left 
among  us  by  his  person — everything  speaks  to  us 
with  absolute  sincerity  and  resolute  mind  of  devo- 
tion to  this  auspicious  program.  Our  eminent  guest 
has  seen  how  Brazil  receives  the  living  message  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States;  and,  when  he  re- 
turns, a  faithful  witness  of  our  civilization,  which  is 
so  little  known,  so  ill-treated,  and  so  calumniated 
abroad,  he  will  in  all  probability  carry  with  him  a 
conviction  of  having  found  in  this  disliked  South 
America,  between  the  Oyapoc  and  the  Plate,  the 
Atlantic  and  the  Andes,  a  not  indigenous  although 
new  sister  of  the  United  States,  in  which  the  opin- 
ion of  public  men  and  popular  sentiment  have  but 
one  ambition  in  regard  to  the  policy  now  inaugu- 
rated, namely,  that  it  may  become  rooted  for  cen- 
turies and  that  it  may  shelter  our  future  under  its 
branches. 


54  BRAZIL. 

I  wished,  gentlemen — and  all  the  members  of 
this  House  wished — that  Mr.  Root  might  hear  from 
the  mouth  of  the  man  of  experience,  authority,  and 
austere  demeanor  who  is  to  preside  over  us  the  most 
eloquent  and  highest  of  these  expressions  of  good 
wishes. 

For  this  purpose  I  move  that  the  Senate  resolve 
itself  in  due  form  into  a  committee  of  the  whole, 
and  that  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States 
be  invited  to  take  the  position  of  honor  in  this 
assembly  which  is  due  him.  In  this  manner  the 
proceedings  of  the  Brazilian  Senate  and  the  tradi- 
tions of  this  House  will  preserve  the  memory  of  this 
date  forever.  For  it  is  not  one  of  those  dates 
which  flash  by  and  vanish  into  the  past  like  falling 
meteors,  but  it  is  of  those  which  seek  the  future  by 
luminously  furrowing  the  horizon  of  posterity  like 
ascending  stars. 

And  if  the  future  is  to  be  a  substitution  of  right 
in  place  of  might,  of  arbitration  in  place  of  war, 
of  congresses  in  place  of  armies,  of  harmony,  coop- 
eration, and  solidarity  among  the  American  peoples 
in  place  of  hostile  rivalries,  we  may,  on  seeing  seated 
here  to-day  at  the  right  of  our  President  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  of  the  United  States,  affirm  to  him,  as 
Henry  Clay  did  on  the  reception  of  Lafayette,  with 
a  different  intention  but  just  as  truthfully,  that  he 
is  seated  in  the  midst  of  posterity. 


Speech  of  Senator  Alfredo  Ellis. 


MR.  ELIHU  ROOT;  HONORABLE  SIR: 

The  Federal  Senators,  representatives  of  the 
Brazilian  nation,  representing  the  people  of  twenty 
States  of  the  Union  and  that  of  the  Federal  Dis- 
trict, here  congregated  to  receive  you,  through  me, 
salute  you,  and  through  you  salute  President  Roose- 
velt and  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  You  are  truly  welcome  amongst  us,  and 
you  are  welcome  amongst  us  because  we  know  your 
history,  we  know  the  history  of  your  country,  we 
know  the  history  of  your  great  men  from  Washing- 
ton to  Roosevelt.  We  know  the  history  of  your 
country,  and  we  know  the  history  of  your  great 
men,  because  the  Brazilian  people  love  you,  because 
the  Brazilian  people  esteem  you.  You  are  truly 
and  sincerely  welcome  amongst  us,  and  you  are 
welcome  because  you  are  the  fortunate  messenger, 
the  happy  harbinger  of  a  coming  civilization  that  is 
looming  already  in  the  not-far-distant  future,  bring- 
ing in  your  hands  the  snowy  and  brilliant  credentials 
of  brotherhood  and  peace.  Though  you  come  here, 
Mr.  Root,  amid  the  cannon's  roar,  or  the  din  of 
popular  acclamations,  the  echo  in  its  grand  unanim- 
ity that  these  words  awaken  in  the  hearts  of  the 

55 


56  BRAZIL. 

Brazilian  people  all  throughout  the  land,  from  north 
to  south,  from  east  to  west,  should  convince  you  that 
we,  the  Brazilian  people,  trust  that  the  great  work 
that  is  now  being  done  through  the  delegates  of  the 
nineteen  American  Republics  that  have  here  assem- 
bled for  the  Third  Conference  of  the  Pan-American 
Congress  will  bear  fruit — that  they  will  bear  fruit 
just  the  same  as  that  at  which  the  basis  was  laid  a 
long  time  ago  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1776,  written  by  Thomas  Jefferson  and  signed  by 
the  delegates  of  nine  out  of  the  thirteen  colonies 
that  had  risen  in  arms  against  the  mother  country. 
On  that  eventful  and  never-to-be-forgotten  day, 
Pennsylvania's  delegate — the  great,  the  wise,  the 
noble  Benjamin  Franklin — with  his  heart  full  of 
sad  misgivings,  full  of  sad  forebodings,  about  the 
final  issue  of  the  war,  raising  himself  from  the  chair 
on  which  he  had  been  sitting,  observed  on  its  back, 
embroidered  on  the  tapestry,  the  figures  of  a  beam- 
ing sun  with  its  golden  rays.  "  I  do  not  know,"  he 
said,  "if  this  is  the  image  of  a  rising  or  a  setting  sun; 
please  God  Almighty  that  it  may  be  that  of  a  rising 
sun,  enlightening  the  birth  of  a  free  and  prosperous 
people !"  And  it  was — and  it  was.  His  wish — his 
dear  wish — was  fulfilled ;  his  prophecy  was  realized. 
The  country  you  represent  now,  Mr.  Root,  is  the 
wonder  of  the  world  for  its  greatness,  for  its  power, 
for  its  prosperity. 

What  we  desire — what  the  Brazilian  people  de- 
sire— what  we  hope,  is  that  in  your  case  the  same 


ELLIS.  5  7 

prophecy  may  be  made  and  the  same  prophecy  may 
be  realized  in  relation  to  the  final  ends  that  we  ex- 
pect of  the  Pan-American  Conference,  strengthen- 
ing with  indissoluble  bonds  of  harmonious  concord, 
and  a  very  lasting  peace,  American  brotherhood; 
banishing,  at  the  same  time,  from  the  lands  of  the 
New  World  all  ambition  of  conquest  and  the  bloody 
strife  of  fratricidal  wars. 

To  the  American  people,  our  brothers,  our 
friends,  and  our  companions,  the  Brazilian  world, 
treading  the  same  paths  and  enlivened  by  the  same 
great  desire  to  attain  its  destinies  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  sends  through  you  its  most  affectionate, 
its  most  fraternal,  its  most  hearty  salutation. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN;  SENATORS  OF  BRAZIL: 

I  beg  you  to  believe  in  the  depth  of  sensibil- 
ity with  which  I  have  received  the  honor  you  do 
me,  and  the  honor  you  do  to  my  country.  The 
similarity  of  our  institutions  is  such  that  I  come 
into  the  presence  of  this  august  body  with  full 
appreciation  of  its  dignity  and  its  significance.  I 
feel  that  I  am  in  the  presence  of  the  great  law- 
making  body  to  which  is  intrusted,  by  its  repre- 
sentation of  the  separate  States  of  Brazil,  the  pres- 
ervation of  local  self-government  throughout  this 
vast  empire  ;  so  that  the  people  of  each  one  of  your 
twenty  States,  and  each  one  of  the  many  States  to 
be  erected  hereafter,  as  your  population  increases, 
may  govern  itself  in  its  local  affairs  without  the 
oppression  which  inevitably  results  from  the  absolute 
rule  of  a  central  power  ignorant  of  the  necessities 
and  of  the  feelings  of  each  locality;  and  so  that 
also,  consistently  with  that  local  self-government, 
the  nationality  of  Brazil  shall  be  preserved  and  the 
principle  of  national  power,  the  dignity  and  power 
of  the  nation  that  protects  all  local  self-governments 
in  their  liberty,  shall  never  be  decreased.  I  feel  also 
that  I  am  in  the  presence  of  the  body  from  which 

58 


ROOT.  59 

must  come,  not  only  in  the  present  but  in  the  great 
future  of  Brazil,  that  conservative  force  which  is  so 
essential  to  regulate  the  action  of  a  democracy.  By 
your  constitution,  by  the  necessities  of  your  exist- 
ence, it  will  be  your  function  to  prevent  rash  and 
ill-considered  action — to  see  that  all  the  expedients 
of  government,  all  the  theories  that  are  suggested, 
are  submitted  to  the  test  of  practical  experience  and 
sound  reason. 

And  so,  with  the  deepest  interest  in  the  continued 
success  of  the  Brazilian  experiment  in  self-govern- 
ment, I  am  most  deeply  impressed  with  the  honor 
you  have  done  me.  The  encomiums  which  have 
been  passed  here  upon  my  country  are  such  that  to 
know  of  them  must  in  itself  be  an  incentive  to  de- 
serve them.  I  hope  that  every  word  which  has  been 
spoken  here  about  that  dear  Republic  from  which  I 
come  may  go  to  the  knowledge  of  every  citizen  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  and  may  lead  him  to 
feel  that  it  is  his  duty  to  see  that  this  good  opinion 
of  our  sister  Republic  is  justified.  Senator  Ruy 
Barbosa  has  justly  interpreted  the  meaning  of  my 
visit.  I  come  not  merely  as  the  messenger  of  friend- 
ship; I  come  as  that,  but  not  merely  as  that.  When 
democratic  institutions  found  their  place  first  in  the 
protests  of  the  New  World  against  the  colonial  gov- 
ernment that  bound  us  all  hand  and  foot;  when  the 
plain  people  undertook  to  govern  themselves  without 
any  Heaven-sent  superior  force  to  control  them,  how 
gloomy  were  the  prognostications,  how  unfriendly 


6O  BRAZIL. 

were  the  wishes,  how  uncomplimentary  were  the 
expressions  which,  upon  the  other  side  of  the  At- 
lantic, greeted  the  new  experiment — that  we  should 
have  rule  by  the  mob,  that  disorder  and  anarchy 
would  ensue,  that  plain  men  were  incapable,  and 
always  would  be  incapable,  of  maintaining  an  orderly 
and  peaceful  government.  Lo,  how  the  scene  has 
changed!  The  conception  of  man's  capacity  to  gov- 
ern himself,  gaining  year  by  year  credit,  belief,  dem- 
onstration in  the  new  fields  of  virgin  lands,  north  and 
south,  has  been  carried  back  across  the  Atlantic 
until  the  old  idea  of  a  necessary  sovereign  is  shaken 
to  the  base.  No  longer  is  it  man's  conception  of 
government  that  it  must  be  by  a  superior  force, 
pressing  down  what  is  bad;  but  that  it  shall  be  from 
beneath,  with  all  the  good  impulses  and  capacities 
of  human  nature  pressing  upward  what  is  good.  I 
come  here  both  to  hold  out  the  right  hand  of  friend- 
ship to  you  from  my  country,  and  also  to  assert  in 
the  most  positive,  the  most  salient  way  the  solidarity 
of  republican  institutions  in  the  New  World,  the 
similarity  of  results,  the  mutual  confidence  that  is 
felt  by  my  country  in  yours  and  by  yours  in  mine; 
to  assert  before  all  the  world  that  the  great  experi- 
ment of  free  self-government  is  a  success  north  and 
south,  the  whole  New  World  over.  From  the  reali- 
zation of  this  fact — this  certain  and  indisputable 
fact — that  republican  institutions  are  successful,  will 
come  that  confidence  which  underlies  wealth,  the 
security  of  property  that  is  the  basis  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, the  certainty  that  the  fruits  of  enterprise  will 


ROOT.  0 1 

be  secure,  which  is  the  incentive  to  activity,  the  in- 
dependence of  the  people  from  the  hard  stress  of 
poverty— the  independence  that  comes  from  ample 
means  of  support,  and  is  a  condition  of  growth  and 
enjoyment  in  life.  More  than  wealth,  more  than 
production,  more  than  trade,  more  than  any  mate- 
rial prosperity,  there  will  come  with  them  learning, 
universal  education,  literature,  arts,  the  charms  and 
graces  of  life.  I  would  think  but  little  of  my 
country  if  it  had  merely  material  wealth.  I  would 
think  but  little  of  my  country  if  the  conception  of 
its  people  was  that  we  were  to  live  like  the  robber 
baron  of  the  Middle  Ages,  who  merely  gathered  into 
his  castle  for  his  own  luxury  the  wealth  that  he  had 
taken  from  the  surrounding  people. 

A  land  of  free  institutions,  in  which  wealth  and 
prosperity  are  made  the  basis  upon  which  to  build 
up  the  arts,  graces,  and  virtues  of  life,  and  in  which 
there  is  a  noble  and  generous  sympathy  with  every- 
one laboring  in  the  same  cause — that,  indeed,  is  a 
country  of  which  one  may  be  proud ;  that  is  a  coun- 
try which  is  the  natural  result  of  free  institutions. 

So  I  come  to  you  to  say :  Let  us  know  each 
other  better ;  let  us  aid  each  other  in  the  great  work 
of  advancing  civilization ;  let  the  United  States  of 
North  America  and  the  United  States  of  Brazil 
join  hands,  not  in  formal  written  treaties  of  alliance, 
but  in  the  universal  sympathy  and  confidence  and 
esteem  of  their  peoples — join  hands  to  help  human- 
ity forward  along  the  paths  which  we  have  been  so 


62  BRAZIL. 

happy  as  to  tread.  Let  us  help  each  other  to  grow 
in  wisdom  and  in  spirit,  as  we  have  grown  in  wealth 
and  prosperity.  Mr.  Chairman,  my  poor  words  are 
all  too  ineffective  to  express  the  depth  of  sentiment 
and  height  of  hope  that  I  experience  here.  I  be- 
lieve this  is  not  an  idle  dream;  I  believe  it  is  not 
merely  the  kindly  expression  or  enthusiasm  of  the 
moment,  but  that  after  this  day  there  will  remain 
among  both  our  peoples  a  sentiment  which  will  be 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  great  mass  of  man- 
kind, which  shall  help  these  two  great  nations  to 
preserve  and  promote  the  rule  of  ordered  liberty,  of 
peace  and  justice,  and  of  that  spirit  which  underlies 
all  our  Christian  civilization,  the  spirit  of  humanity, 
higher  than  the  spirit  of  nationality,  more  precious 
than  material  wealth,  indispensable  to  the  true  fulfill- 
ment of  the  mission  of  liberty. 


Speech  of  Doctor  Paula  Guimaraes  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  of  Brazil,  at  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
August  2,'  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Portuguese.] 

The  Chamber  of  Deputies  feels  itself  honored 
by  the  presence  of  Mr.  Elihu  Root,  Secretary  of 
State  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  distinguished  member  of  the  Government 
of  our  great  sister  Republic,  whose  coming  to  this 
country  is  a  mark  of  regard  and  esteem  which  is 
very  flattering  to  us  and  which  will  never  be  for- 
gotten, has  already  had  opportunity  to  ascertain  how 
deep  and  sincere  are  the  sentiments  of  sympathy 
which  the  people  of  Brazil  feel  for  the  North 
American  Republic,  in  the  extraordinary  demon- 
strations of  joy  and  gratitude  which  have  every- 
where attended  him  and  which  are  an  eloquent 
proof  of  the  sincerity  and  cordiality  of  our  tradi- 
tional friendship  and  disinterested  admiration. 

The  entrance  of  Brazil  into  the  family  of  Repub- 
lics of  the  American  Continent  has  resulted  in 
closer  ties  of  confraternity  among  the  nations  of 
the  New  World.  As  a  result  of  the  policy  of  ap- 
proximation, happily  adopted  by  the  Government 
of  Brazil,  we  have  the  meeting  in  this  capital  of  the 

63 


64  BRAZIL. 

Pan-American  Congress,  where  the  distinguished 
delegates  of  the  sister  Republics  have  been  given 
a  warm  and  hearty  welcome.  From  the  White 
House,  where  President  Roosevelt  firmly  maintains 
the  tradition  of  great  American  names,  there  has 
come  to  us  on  a  mission  of  peace  an  eminent  and 
highly  esteemed  statesman,  bringing  us  political 
ideas  of  a  new  mold  and  the  frank  diplomacy  of 
modern  democracies.  In  words  of  the  highest  sig- 
nificance, which  are  unsurpassed  for  precision  and 
frankness,  the  far-seeing  statesman  has  revealed  to 
us  the  ideal  of  justice  and  peace  to  which  humanity 
in  the  near  future  is  to  attain,  because  the  rule  of 
force  "is  losing  ground,"  and  "sentiment,  feeling, 
and  affection  are  gathering  more  and  more  sway 
over  the  affairs  of  men."  The  words  of  the  dis- 
tinguished American  are  familiar  to  the  whole  world, 
but  here  they  are  firmly  engraved  on  our  loyal  hearts. 

Differences  disappear  before  the  great  historic 
fact  at  which  it  is  our  good  fortune  to  be  present  at 
this  moment,  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  which  is 
bound  to  bring  great  benefits  to  our  country.  The 
students,  full  of  hope  and  enthusiasm,  the  orderly 
working  people — all  classes  of  society,  in  short,  unite 
with  the  public  officials  in  unanimity  of  ideas  and 
of  applause. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  to  confirm  these  sentiments 
which  every  Brazilian  feels,  to  proclaim  the  national 
aspiration  of  harmony,  conciliation,  and  union,  that 
I  arise  to  thank,  in  behalf  of  the  Chamber  of 


GUIMARAES.  65 

Deputies,  the  representative  of  the  popular  will, 
Mr.  Elihu  Root,  for  his  presence  among  us,  and  to 
greet  in  his  person  the  great  and  glorious  Republic 
of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  greater  for 
the  example  it  gives  us  of  liberty,  energy,  and 
order  than  for  its  extraordinary  material  strength. 
Glory  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes ! 


Speech  of  Doctor  James  Darcy. 


[Translation  from  the  Portuguese.] 

The  same  deep  and  profound  emotion  which 
I,  as  a  Brizilian  and  an  American,  feel  in  this  hour 
is  undoubtedly  felt  by  all  here  on  the  floor — repr^- 
sentatives  of  the  nation,  and  identical  with  the 
nation  itself.  When  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  sees 
the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  the  gallery,  it  can  not  go  on  with  its 
regular  work  for  a  minute  longer  even.  So  great 
and  extraordinary  have  been  the  demonstrations 
occasioned  by  the  presence  in  our  country  of  the 
great  envoy  of  the  great  Republic  of  the  United 
States  that  it  is  necessary  that  the  Chamber,  in  this 
hour  unequaled  in  the  whole  life  of  the  American 
Continent,  manifest  without  delay  its  feelings  of 
sympathy  with  the  work  for  the  closer  approxima- 
tion of  the  American  nations. 

In  Scandinavia,  the  land  of  almost  perpetual 
fogs  and  mists,  there  died  not  long  ago  an  extraor- 
dinary man.  Ibsen,  by  some  called  revolutionary, 
by  others  evolutionary,  dreamed  in  all  his  works  of 
a  new  day  of  peace  and  concord  for  all  mankind. 
This  dream  did  not  exist  in  the  poet's  brain  alone, 

66 


DARCY.  67 

for  it  has  imbedded  itself  in  the  mind  and  heart  of 
a  great  American  politician — Elihu  Root. 

From  the  moment  he  set  foot  on  Brazilian  soil 
he  has  been  received  with  loud  acclamations  of  joy, 
in  which  all  Brazilians  have  joined.  The  demon- 
stration which  the  student  body  of  Brazil  made  a 
short  time  ago,  which  for  enthusiasm  and  sponta- 
neity of  feeling  has  never  been  equaled,  manifested 
our  feeling  toward  Mr.  Root. 

In  his  speech  at  the  Third  Conference  of  the 
American  Republics,  the  statesman,  the  philosopher, 
the  sociologist,  the  great  humanitarian  that  Elihu 
Root  is,  opened  up  a  new  era  for  the  countries  of 
the  continent  of  such  an  order  that  the  old  standard 
of  morality  has  fallen  to  the  ground  in  ruins.  On 
the  public  buildings,  on  the  fortresses  and  masts  of 
war  vessels,  waves  the  same  flag — a  white  flag,  re- 
minding the  American  people  that  a  new  epoch  of 
fraternity  has  risen  for  them. 

Nothing  has  ever  done  so  much  for  peace  as 
this  visit  of  Elihu  Root  among  us.  It  forms  a 
spectacle  that  must  mark  an  epoch  in  our  national 
life.  The  Chamber  of  Deputies,  interpreting  the 
unanimous  sentiment  of  the  nation,  from  north  to 
south,  of  old  and  young  alike,  has  suggested  that  I 
offer  a  motion,  which  is  already  approved  in  ad- 
vance, and  make  the  request  that  Mr.  Elihu  Root 
be  invited  to  take  a  seat  on  the  floor  of  the  Cham- 
ber, as  a  mark  of  homage  in  return  for  the  honor  he 
has  done  us  in  making  a  visit  to  this  House. 


68  BRAZIL. 

The  memory  of  this  visit  will  live  forever  in  our 
hearts.  He  who  bestows  all  favors  will  undoubtedly 
reward  those  who  have  done  so  much  for  American 
peace  and  fraternity  by  setting  them  up  as  models 
for  the  whole  world. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.   PRESIDENT,  AND  MEMBERS  OF  THE  CHAMBER 

OF  DEPUTIES: 

I  thank  you  sincerely  for  the  flattering  expres- 
sions which,  through  your  able  and  happy  spokes- 
men, you  have  made  regarding  myself.  I  thank 
you  still  more  deeply  for  the  expressions  of  friend- 
ship for  my  country.  I  beg  you  to  permit  me  in 
my  turn  to  make  acknowledgment  to  you,  the 
representatives  of  the  people  of  Brazil — acknowl- 
edgment which  I  can  make  to  the  President  of  the 
Republic,  which  I  can  make  personally  to  your 
distinguished  and  most  able  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  but  which  I  wish  to  make  on  this  public 
occasion  to  the  people  of  Brazil.  I  wish  to  thank 
the  Brazilian  people  for  sending  to  my  country  a 
man  so  able  and  so  successful  in  interpreting  his 
people  to  us  as  my  good  friend  Mr.  Nabuco.  I 
wish  to  thank  the  people  of  Brazil — its  legislators, 
its  educated  men  of  literature  and  of  science,  its 
students  in  their  generous  and  delightful  enthusiasm, 
and  its  laboring  people  in  their  simple  and  honest 
appreciation — for  the  reception  which  they  have 
given  me,  overwhelming  in  its  hospitality  and  friend- 
ship ;  for  the  courtesy,  the  careful  attention  to  every 

69 


7O  BRAZIL. 

detail  that  could  affect  the  comfort,  the  convenience, 
and  the  pleasure  of  myself  and  my  family ;  for  the 
abundant  expressions  of  friendship  which  I  have 
found  in  your  streets  and  in  your  homes ;  for  the 
bountiful  repasts ;  for  the  clouds  of  beautiful  flow- 
ers with  which  you  have  surrounded  us ;  and  more 
than  all  for  the  deep  sense  of  sincerity  in  your 
friendship  which  has  been  carried  to  my  heart.  I 
wish  to  make  this  acknowledgment  directly  to  you, 
the  direct  and  immediate  representatives  of  the 
people. 

We,  who  in  official  life  have  our  short  day,  are 
of  little  consequence.  You  and  I,  Mr.  President, 
Baron  Rio  Branco,  the  President  of  the  Republic 
himself — we  are  of  little  consequence.  We  come 
and  go.  We  can  not  alter  the  course  of  nations,  or 
the  fate  of  mankind ;  but  the  people,  the  great  mass 
of  humanity,  are  moving  up  or  down.  They  are 
marching  on,  keeping  step  with  civilization  and 
human  progress ;  or  they  are  lapsing  back  towards 
barbarism  and  darkness.  The  people  to-day  make 
peace  and  make  war — not  a  sovereign,  not  the  whim 
of  an  individual,  not  the  ambition  of  a  single  man ; 
but  the  sentiment,  the  friendship,  the  affection,  the 
feelings  of  this  great  throbbing  mass  of  humanity, 
determine  peace  or  war,  progress  or  retrogression. 
And  coming  to  a  self-governing  people  from  a  self- 
governing  people,  I  would  interpret  my  fellow- 
citizens — the  great  mass  of  plain  people — to  the 
great  mass  of  the  plain  people  of  Brazil.  No  longer 


ROOT.  71 

the  aristocratic  selfishness,  which  gathers  into  a  few 
hands  all  the  goods  of  life,  rules  mankind.  Under 
our  free  Republics  our  conception  of  human  duty 
is  to  spread  the  goods  of  life  as  widely  as  possible ; 
to  bring  the  humblest  and  the  weakest  up  into  a 
better,  a  brighter,  a  happier  existence ;  to  lay  deep 
the  foundations  of  government,  so  that  government 
shall  be  built  up  from  below,  rather  than  brought 
down  from  above.  These  are  the  conceptions  in 
which  we  believe.  True,  our  languages  are  different; 
true,  we  draw  from  our  parent  countries  many  dif- 
ferent customs,  different  ways  of  acting  and  of 
thinking ;  but,  after  all,  the  great,  substantial  under- 
lying facts  are  the  same,  humanity  is  the  same.  We 
live,  we  learn,  we  labor,  and  we  struggle  up  to  a 
higher  life  the  same — you  of  Brazil  and  we  of  the 
United  States  of  the  North.  In  the  great  struggle 
of  humanity  our  interests  are  alike ;  and  I  hold  out 
to  you  the  hands  of  the  American  people,  asking 
your  help  and  offering  you  ours,  in  this  great 
struggle  of  humanity  for  a  better,  a  nobler,  and  a 
happier  life.  You  will  make  mistakes  in  your 
council — that  is  the  lot  of  humanity;  no  govern- 
ment can  be  perfect — till  the  millennium  comes; 
but  year  by  year,  and  generation  by  generation, 
substantial  advance  towards  more  perfect  govern- 
ment, more  complete  order,  more  exact  justice,  and 
more  lofty  conceptions  of  human  duty  will  be  made. 
God  be  with  you  in  your  struggle  as  he  has  been 
with  us!  May  your  deliberations  ever  be  ruled  by 


72  BRAZIL. 

patriotism,  by  unselfishness,  by  love  of  country,  and 
by  wisdom,  for  the  blessing  of  your  whole  people, 
and  may  universal  prosperity  and  growth  in  wis- 
dom and  righteousness  of  all  the  American  Republics 
act  and  react  throughout  the  continents  of  America 
for  all  time  to  come ! 


Speech  of  Theodomiro  de  Camargo,  of  the  Sao  Paulo 
Law  School,  at  a  mass  meeting  of  students  in 
front  of  the  Palacio  Chaves,  at  Sao  Paulo, 
August  4,  1906. 

SECRETARY  ROOT;  HONORABLE  SIR: 

The  Law  School  of  Sao  Paulo  is  the  tabernacle 
of  our  proudest  ideals,  of  our  most  grateful  tradi- 
tions. Thence  departed  the  first  champions  of  lib- 
erty for  the  holy  crusade  of  the  slaves'  liberation; 
there  expanded  and  strenghtened  the  republican 
ideas  that  caused  the  fall  of  the  Monarchy ;  thence 
have  come  almost  all  our  rulers  and  leading  men. 

It  is  in  the  name  of  that  school,  sir,  that  I  salute 
you  and  give  you  welcome,  not  only  as  the  eminent 
statesmen,  but  also  and  specially  as  the  loyal  and 
dedicated  friend  of  Brazil. 

I  can  assure  you  that  common  to  all  Brazilians 
are  the  sentiments  of  true  sympathy  and  great  ad- 
miration for  the  noble  country  which  has  in  you  so 
worthy  a  representative.  This  sympathy  and  this 
admiration,  common  to  all  Brazilians,  are  well  de- 
served by  the  wonderful  people  which  liberated 
Cuba  with  the  precious  blood  of  her  sons ;  are  well 
deserved  by  the  generous  nation  which  contributed 
so  much  in  hoisting  in  the  Orient  the  banner  of 

73 


74  BRAZIL. 

peace,  putting  an  end  to  one  of  the  most  sanguinary 
struggles  that  is  registered  in  universal  history.  The 
deep  joy  with  which  you  have  been  received  since 
you  set  foot  on  Brazilian  soil  is  sufficient  to  assert 
what  I  say. 

We  rejoice  to  receive  your  visit  because  it  is  a 
proof  that  our  feelings  are  reciprocated,  and  also 
because  it  will  be  a  stronger  link  to  bind  forever  the 
two  great  Republics  that  by  their  importance  are 
destined  to  lead  their  American  sisters  through  the 
wide  path  of  progress  and  civilization. 

President  McKinley  wisely  said:  "The  wisdom 
and  energy  of  all  the  nations  are  not  too  great  for 
the  world's  work;"  so  our  earnest  vows  are  that 
your  voyage  cooperates  for  the  true  fraternity 
of  the  American  Republics,  that  they  may  work 
together  in  the  pursuit  of  the  highest  and  noblest 
endeavors  of  humanity,  which  is  universal  peace. 


Speech  of  Mr.  Galaor  Nazareth  de  Arujo,  of  the 
Normal  School. 


"Be  welcome,  distinguished  visitor!"  This 
phrase,  so  often  addressed  to  you  during  your  voy- 
age in  Brazil,  may  now  be  said  again  to  express 
the  sincerity  with  which  the  people  of  Sao  Paulo 
receives  the  visit  of  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen 
of  modern  America. 

Amongst  the  institutes  of  education  of  this  city 
there  is  the  Normal  School,  which  has  always  tried 
to  follow  the  methods  and  systems  in  use  in  your 
great  country. 

In  the  name  of  this  institution  and  representing 
my  colleagues,  I  come  before  you,  sir,  to  repeat, 
with  all  my  heart,  the  same  words  you  have  heard 
so  many  times  in  Brazil :  "Be  welcome,  Mr.  Root!" 

75 


Speech  of  Mr.  Gama,jr.,  of  the  Commercial  School. 


HONORABLE  MR.  SECRETARY  OF  STATE: 

A  representative  of  a  peaceful  people  is  always 
welcome  to  Brazil. 

You  know  already  our  traditional  policy.  From 
the  beginning  of  our  existence  as  a  nation  we  have 
accustomed  ourselves  to  see  in  your  glorious  country 
the  nation  which,  first  of  all,  substituted,  in  the 
competition  in  which,  in  some  way,  the  so-called 
dominant  nations  engage,  military  imperialism  by 
the  beneficent  and  civilizing  policy  of  free  commer- 
cial expansion,  joining  producers  and  consumers 
without  any  link  of  dependence. 

We  followed  with  ardent  sympathy  your  liberal 
and  eminently  humane  action  in  the  Chinese  Em- 
pire, at  the  moment  when  that  Monarchy  seemed 
doomed  to  dismemberment. 

And  you,  sir,  were  the  first  to  make  understood 
the  need  of  the  maintenance  of  the  administrative 
and  territorial  statu  quo  of  that  Empire,  to  which 
you  are  to-day  the  securest  guaranty  of  national 
integrity,  along  with  that  of  other  nationalities  of 
the  Far  East. 

76 


GAM  A.  77 

You  come  to  us,  therefore,  with  the  credentials 
of  a  peaceful  people,  and  of  a  people  that  respects 
the  autonomy  of  other  nations,  no  matter  how  weak 
they  may  be. 

In  this  quality  we  open  to  you  our  arms,  and 
we  heartily  meet  your  wishes  in  the  assurance  that 
we  contribute  to  the  development  of  the  ideas  of 
peace  and  steadiness  without  which  the  evolution  of 
a  people  can  only  be  accomplished  imperfectly  and 
at  the  cost  of  many  centuries  of  hard  efforts. 

The  United  States  of  Brazil  acknowledged  the 
advantages  of  a  perfect  communion  of  views  in 
commercial  matters  with  their  great  sister  of  North 
America.  They  were  aware  that  essentially  oppo- 
site points  of  view  regarding  commercial  interchange 
separate  them  from  some  of  the  nations  of  the  Old 
World. 

So  long  as  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  an 
almost  invincible  barrier  of  customs  duties  impedes 
the  entry  of  our  products  in  markets  naturally  hos- 
tile to  South  American  productions  our  country 
has  only  two  alternatives :  either  to  continue  with 
the  very  irksome  commercial  relations  with  those 
markets  or  to  look  for  others  with  evident  loss  of  a 
part  of  the  harmony  that  ought  to  exist  between 
nations  affiliated  by  origin  and  for  so  many  years 
united  by  the  most  intimate  links  of  sympathy  and 
intellectual  solidarity. 

Consequently,  we  adopted  the  legitimate  defense 
of  protectionism  while  remaining  faithful  to  those 


78  BRAZIL. 

friendly  feelings,  and  very  naturally  we  turned  to  the 
continental  nation  that  understood  better  the  advan- 
tages of  a  free  exchange  of  products;  we  looked 
unsuspiciously  to  the  friendly  people  who  conceived 
the  idea  of  making  in  America,  united  and  strong,  a 
large  neutral  area  devoted  to  peace  amidst  the  pos- 
sible divergencies  that  may  perchance  in  time  sepa- 
rate in  aggressive  antagonism  a  rejuvenated  and 
martial  Orient  and  the  nations  of  the  West. 

We  understood  at  once  the  difficult  task  that  had 
to  be  accomplished  in  order,  by  your  side  and  with 
your  aid,  to  secure  the  neutralization  of  America,  so 
desirable  and  so  necessary  for  the  final  reconciliation 
of  nations  still  militarized,  and  for  the  establishment 
of  a  secure  standpoint  for  the  general  confraterniza- 
tion  of  mankind. 

All  the  enthusiastic  appreciation  of  the  twenty- 
one  democracies  that  follow  and  love  your  deed,  and 
all  the  facilities  and  cooperation  that  they  can  offer 
for  its  accomplishment,  you  will  find,  sir,  should  you 
visit  them  as  you  now  do,  one  of  their  number,  in  the 
corresponding  twenty-one  Brazilian  capitals. 

The  Commercial  School  of  Sao  Paulo,  from 
which  very  likely  will  come  out  later  commercial 
agents  of  Brazil,  sincerely  espouses  your  policy  of 
peace  and  solidarity  on  the  American  Continent,  and 
in  the  person  of  its  eminent  chancellor  salutes  the 
noble  North  American  nation. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


I  thank  you,  students  of  Sao  Paulo,  for  your 
greeting  and  for  your  generous  sympathy. 

I  am  here  upon  a  mission  of  friendship  and  of 
appreciation. 

I  am  here  in  order  that  my  country  may  know 
more  of  the  people  of  Brazil,  and  in  order  that  the 
people  of  Brazil  may  learn  more  of  my  country, 
believing  that  the  cause  of  almost  all  controversy 
between  nations,  the  most  fertile  source  of  weak- 
ness and  of  war,  is  national  misunderstanding  and 
the  prejudice  that  comes  from  misunderstanding. 

I  shall  go  back  to  my  country  and  tell  my  peo- 
ple that  I  have  found  in  this  famous  city  of  learn- 
ing, Sao  Paulo,  a  great  body  of  young  men  who 
are  gathering  inspiration  in  the  cause  of  learning 
and  of  human  rights  from  the  atmosphere  of  liberty 
and  independence. 

I  shall  tell  them  that  here,  where  the  independ- 
ence of  Brazil  was  born,  the  spirit  of  that  inde- 
pendence still  lives  in  the  youth  of  Brazil. 

I  shall  tell  them  that  here  in  the  birthplace  of 
presidents  more  young  Brazilians  are  treading  the 
first  steps  in  the  pathway  of  patriotism  and  great- 
ness, pressing  on  to  take  the  place,  to  take  up  and 

79 


8O  BRAZIL. 

continue  the  great  work  of  the  men  born  in  Sao 
Paulo,  who  have  contributed  so  mightily  to  the 
greatness  of  Brazil. 

Let  me  say,  young  gentlemen,  one  word  as  to 
the  lessons  that  you  draw  from  your  country's  glo- 
rious past. 

Noble  and  inspiring  as  are  the  victories  Brazil 
has  won  in  war ;  remarkable,  eloquent,  unsurpassed 
as  are  the  great  things  done  in  the  past  by  the  Pau- 
listas,  greater  and  nobler  victories  of  peace  await 
the  people  of  Brazil  and  Sao  Paulo. 

You  have,  as  my  country  had,  a  vast  continent 
with  savage  nature  to  subdue. 

You  have,  as  my  country  had  with  almost  im- 
measurable forests  fit  for  human  habitation,  to 
welcome  to  your  free  land  the  millions  of  Europe 
seeking  to  escape  from  hard  conditions  of  grinding 
poverty.  You  have  before  you  that  noblest  product 
of  our  time,  that  chief  result  of  our  institutions,  the 
open  path  to  progress  and  success  for  every  youth 
of  Brazil.  Because  this  is  a  free  land,  because  you 
are  a  Republic,  because  you  are  a  self-governing  peo- 
ple, there  is  no  limit  to  what  each  one  of  you  may 
accomplish  by  the  exercise  of  your  own  knowledge, 
determination,  and  ability.  It  is  the  free  spirit  that 
keeps  open  the  door  of  that  limitless  expanse,  and 
that  will  conquer  the  wilderness  and  make  Brazil  a 
refuge  for  the  poor  of  other  lands  and  a  country 
rich  and  teeming  with  people,  prosperous,  learned, 
and  happy  in  the  years  and  centuries  to  come. 


Speech   of  Mr.    Root   on  presentation  of  football 
trophy,  Sao  Paulo,  August  4,  1906. 


The  pleasant  and  honorable  duty  of  presenting 
to  you  this  prize  of  success  in  the  fine  and  rapid  and 
skillful  game  which  we  have  just  witnessed  has  been 
delegated  to  me  by  the  kindness  and  consideration 
of  the  president  and  government  of  the  State  of  Sao 
Paulo. 

It  is  a  fitting  act  with  which  to  signalize  my  first 
visit  to  this  historic  and  famous  city,  this  ancient 
center  of  activity  and  manly  vigor — this  State 
famous  for  centuries  for  its  great  and  noble  deeds, 
and  known  now  throughout  the  world  for  its  suc- 
cessful industry  and  commerce,  and  known  also  as 
the  home  of  great  men,  great  patriots  in  the  history 
of  Brazil. 

May  the  generous  emulation  of  this  courteous 
and  gentlemanly  game  which  you  have  been  play- 
ing be  a  symbol  of  activity  in  the  commercial,  indus- 
trial, and  social  life  of  the  country ;  above  all,  may  it 
be  a  symbol  of  your  lives  as  patriots,  as  citizens  of 
Brazil.  Let  the  best  man  ever  win.  Let  activity 
and  skill  and  pluck  ever  have  their  just  rewards. 
Do  for  your  country  always  as  you  have  done  for 
your  rival  teams  in  this  game  of  football.  Do 

R 6  8  I 


82  BRAZIL. 

always  your  best,  and  do  it  always  with  good  tem- 
per and  kindly  feeling,  whatever  be  the  game. 

I  congratulate  you,  sir,  and  your  associates,  in 
being  citizens  of  a  country  and  of  a  State — both 
you  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  you  Paulistas — where 
the  rewards  of  enterprise  and  activity  are  secure, 
and  where  there  is  open  to  every  youth  the  path- 
way of  success  by  deserving  success.  May  this 
prize  be  an  incentive  to  you  and  your  comrades  to 
exercise  every  manly  effort,  both  for  yourselves  and 
for  your  country. 


Speech  of  Doctor  Rezende  at  the  Commercial  Asso- 
ciation of  Santos,  August  7,  1906. 


MR.  ELIHU  ROOT  ;  YOUR  EXCELLENCY  : 

On  behalf  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Com- 
mercial Association  of  Santos,  I  bid  you  welcome. 

The  men  gathered  in  this  hall  to  greet  you  are 
cosmopolitan  in  character — Americans,  Europeans, 
and  Brazilians — men  who  have  united  their  best 
efforts  in  the  great  movement  of  distributing  coffee 
throughout  the  whole  world. 

Coffee  is  our  staple  product,  and  for  many  years 
to  come  is  bound  to  be  the  backbone  of  our  finan- 
cial system. 

The  value  of  this  great  product  is,  however, 
much  greater  than  is  shown  by  the  simple  figures 
of  statistics. 

In  order  to  understand  its  true  value  we  must 
add  to  it  the  other  articles  which  are  produced  with 
it,  and  which  are  unknown  to  the  commercial  world. 

Coffee  also  means  corn,  beans,  rice,  cattle,  etc., 
which  are  abundantly  raised  by  our  coffee  planters ; 
coffee  means  also  all  of  our  infant  industries  and 
those  prosperous  towns  which  dot  the  romantic 
shores  of  the  Tiete,  Paranahyba,  and  the  Mogy- 

83 


84  BRAZIL. 

Guasu.  For  us,  sir,  coffee  means  plenty,  prosperity, 
and  perhaps  greatness. 

It  is  therefore  easy  to  see  how  deeply  we  are 
interested  in  the  growth  of  American  commerce  and 
civilization.  The  American  people  need  for  their 
trade  nearly  eleven  million  bags  of  coffee  per  annum, 
or  almost  all  of  an  average  crop  of  the  State  of  Sao 
Paulo. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  lay  special  stress  on 
this  main  fact,  production  and  consumption ;  one  is 
the  complement  of  the  other,  and  in  the  development 
of  both  our  activities  and  interests  are  so  identified 
that  we  can  not  talk  of  coffee  without  thinking  of 
its  greatest  consumer,  the  American  people. 

Seventeen  years  ago,  in  1889,  Mr.  James  G. 
Elaine,  one  of  your  most  distinguished  statesmen, 
called  together  the  first  Pan-American  Congress  in 
Washington.  It  is  a  long  time  for  us  business  men 
to  wait. 

We  feel,  however,  that  the  ideals  of  that  great 
statesman  have  not  yet  been  realized.  The  great 
distance  which  separates  us  is,  perhaps,  somewhat 
responsible  for  the  want  of  closer  relations  between 
our  peoples ;  and  when  your  visit  to  our  shores  was 
first  announced,  we  Brazilians  all  felt  that  your  pres- 
ence in  Brazil  meant  a  new  departure  in  American- 
Brazilian  relations. 

We  are  looking  forward  with  eagerness  for  the 
results  of  the  sessions  of  the  Pan-American  Con- 
gress in  Rio,  and  this  interest  has  been  greatly 


REZENDE.  85 

augmented  by  the  high  honor  you  confer  upon  us 
in  selecting  this  momentous  opportunity  to  visit  our 
people  and  our  country,  thus  strengthening  the  ties 
of  friendship  between  Americans  and  Brazilians; 
and  though  we  belong  to  a  class  accustomed  to 
consider  only  facts  and  cold  figures,  we  are  deeply 
touched  by  this  high  distinction,  and,  representing 
the  Santos  Board  of  Trade  and  the  coffee  planters 
of  Sao  Paulo — the  greatest  coffee  producers  of  the 
world — I  offer  most  hearty  greetings  to  you,  and 
through  you  to  the  great  American  people,  the 
biggest  consumers  of  coffee  in  the  world. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COMMER- 
CIAL ASSOCIATION  OF  SANTOS  : 
It  is  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  represent  here  in 
this  great  commercial  city  the  best  and  largest  cus- 
tomer you  have.  The  United  States  of  America 
bought  in  the  last  fiscal  year,  the  statistics  of  which 
have  been  made  public,  from  the  United  States  of 
Brazil  about  $99,000,000  worth  of  goods  and  we 
sold  to  Brazil  about  $11,000,000  worth  of  goods. 
I  should  like  to  see  the  trade  more  even ;  I  should 
like  to  see  the  prosperity  of  Brazil  so  increase  that 
the  purchasing  power  of  Brazil  shall  grow;  and  I 
should  like  to  see  the  activity  of  that  purchasing 
power  turned  towards  the  markets  of  the  North 
American  Republic.  I  am  well  aware  that  .the 
course  of  trade  can  not  be  controlled  by  sentiment 
or  by  governments.  It  follows  its  own  immutable 
laws  and  is  drawn  solely  in  the  direction  of  profit. 
But  there  are  many  ways  in  which  the  course  of 
trade  can  be  facilitated,  can  be  stimulated,  can  be 
induced  and  increased.  Mutual  knowledge  leads  to 
trade.  All  the  advertisement  in  the  world  which 
pays  is  but  the  means  of  carrying  information,  knowl- 
86 


ROOT.  8  7 

edge,  and  suggestion  to  the  mind  that  reads  the  ad- 
vertisement. Mutual  knowledge  as  between  the 
people  of  North  America  and  the  people  of  Brazil — 
knowledge  as  between  the  individual  people — will 
increase  the  trade.  Our  people  will  buy  more  coffee 
and  more  sugar  and  more  rubber  from  the  people 
they  know,  from  the  various  trading  concerns  that 
they  know  about,  than  they  would  from  strangers. 
Mutual  knowledge  can  not  exist  without  mutual 
respect.  I  believe  so  much  in  the  goodness  of  hu- 
manity that  I  think  no  two  people  can  know  each 
other  without  respecting  each  other. 

There  is  the  friendliest  feeling  in  the  United 
States  of  America  for  the  people  of  Brazil,  and  we 
believe  that  there  is  great  friendliness  in  this  country 
for  the  people  of  the  United  States.  We  wish  to  be 
good  friends  and  even  better  friends ;  to  enlarge  our 
mutual  trade  to  the  advantage  of  both ;  and  it  is  to 
express  that  feeling  to  you  from  my  people  with 
all  the  kindliness  and  friendship  possible  that  I  am 
here  in  Brazil.  It  has  been  a  great  privilege  to  me 
to  see  something  of  your  great  coffee  production — 
from  the  coffee  plant  on  its  red  platform  of  the 
peculiar  soil  of  Sao  Paulo  to  the  bags  of  coffee 
being  carried  at  the  dock  to  the  steamer  in  which  it 
is  to  be  transported  to  the  markets  of  the  world. 
It  is  pleasing  to  me  to  see  that  the  great  commercial 
port  of  Santos  has  by  the  improvement  of  its  harbor 
facilities  become  more  and  more  great  and  has  done 
away  with  the  unhealthiness  that  once  existed.  I 


88  BRAZIL. 

congratulate  you  upon  the  fact  that  you  have  made 
your  port  and  your  city  so  healthy  that  yellow  fever 
no  longer  exists. 

This  is  probably  the  last  word  I  shall  utter  in 
public  before  I  leave  the  coast  of  Brazil,  and  I  shall, 
as  I  pass  from  among  you,  endeavor  to  make  my 
last  word  an  expression  of  grateful  appreciation  for 
all  the  courtesy,  the  kindliness,  and  the  friendliness 
which  has  surrounded  me  during  every  hour  from 
the  moment  since  I  first  landed  at  Para  three  weeks 
ago  to-day.  My  reception  and  that  of  all  my 
family — the  attentions  that  have  been  paid  to  us, 
the  kindness  that  has  been  exhibited — far  exceed 
anything  that  I  anticipated  or  had  hoped  for,  and  I 
beg  you  to  believe  that  we  shall  never  forget  it. 
We  shall  make  it  known  to  our  people  when  we 
return  home.  I  believe  that  it  will  increase  the 
friendship  they  feel  for  the  people  of  Brazil ;  and  it 
is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  that  I  shall  feel 
entitled  upon  my  return  to  say  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  that  I  have  found  in  the  Republic  of 
Brazil  a  country  to  which  the  laborers  of  the  wor.ld 
may  come  to  make  new  homes  and  to  rear  their 
families  in  prosperity  and  in  happiness ;  that  I  may 
say  to  my  people  that  I  have  found  in  the  Republic 
of  Brazil  a  country  where  capital  is  secure,  where 
the  rights  of  man  are  held  sacred,  and  the  rewards 
of  enterprise  may  be  reaped  without  hindrance.  I 
shall  go  from  you  with  the  hope  that  in  my  weak 
way  I  may  do  what  it  is  possible  for  one  man  to  do 


ROOT.  89 

in  return  for  all  the  friendship  that  you  have  shown 
me  throughout  Brazil — may  give  my  evidence  in 
aid  of  turning  towards  your  vast  and  undeveloped 
resources  that  immigration  and  that  capital  which 
have  been  the  means  of  building  up  and  developing 
the  vast  riches  of  my  own  country.  I  hope  that  the 
same  brilliant  and  prosperous  success  that  has  blessed 
my  own  land  may  for  many  a  generation  to  come 
visit  the  people  of  Brazil.  I  hope  that  for  many  a 
year  to  come  the  two  peoples,  so  similar  in  their 
laws,  their  institutions,  their  purposes,  and  the  great 
task  of  development  that  lies  before  them,  may 
continue  to  grow  in  friendship  and  in  mutual  help. 
And  so,  gentlemen,  I  make  to  you,  and  through 
you  to  the  people  of  Brazil,  my  grateful  and  appre- 
ciative farewell. 


III. 


Speeches  in  Uruguay. 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Jose"  Romeu,  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Republic  of  Uruguay, 
at  a  banquet  given  by  him  to  Mr.  Root  in  the 
Foreign  Office  at  Montevideo,  on  August  10, 
1906. 

[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

When,  after  plowing  through  the  waters  of  the 
Caribbean  Sea  and  running  along  the  eastern  coast 
of  Brazil,  the  North  American  cruiser  Charleston 
entered  into  the  magnificent  bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 
I  had  the  opportunity  of  sending  to  the  illustrious 
representative  of  the  United  States,  who  to-day  is 
our  distinguished  guest,  a  telegraphic  greeting  on 
the  occasion  of  his  arrival  in  South  America  and 
expressing  the  desire  that  with  his  arrival  might  be 
the  beginning  of  an  era  of  fraternity  and  of  labor 
advantageous  to  all  the  nations  of  the  American 
Continent. 

The  words  of  that  telegram,  the  significant 
reply  of  the  Secretary,  and  the  very  eloquent  words 
he  delivered  before  the  Pan-American  Congress  at 
Rio  de  Janeiro  are  not,  in  this  case,  a  mere  act  of 
international  courtesy ;  they  are,  in  my  judgment, 
the  expression  of  the  popular  sentiment.  They  con- 
stitute the  aspiration  of  all  America.  They  are,  at  the 

93 


94  URUGUAY. 

least,  the  fervent  desires  of  the  Uruguayan  people 
and  of  its  Government,  who  see  in  the  visit  of  the 
illustrious  Secretary  of  State  the  foreshadowing  of 
progress,  of  culture,  and  fraternity,  which  bring  the 
peoples  closer  together,  contributing  to  their  pros- 
perity and  to  their  greatness,  through  which  they 
may  figure  with  honor  in  the  concert  of  civilized 
nations. 

These  sentiments,  as  is  well  known,  have  been 
increasing  along  with  the  events  that  have  made  a 
vigorous  people  of  the  great  Northern  Republic, 
capable  of  preponderating  in  the  destinies  of  human- 
ity on  account  of  the  enterprising  genius  of  all  its 
sons,  on  account  of  the  irresistible  force  of  its  ener- 
gies and  of  its  abundant  riches,  and,  very  especially, 
on  account  of  its  redeeming  influence  of  republican 
virtues,  a  characteristic  mark  of  the  Puritans  and 
the  other  elements  who  organized  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment on  the  immovable  base  of  liberty,  justice, 
and  democracy. 

The  pages  of  history  show  us  that  the  ideals  of 
its  own  Constitution,  like  every  great  and  generous 
ideal,  passing  over  the  distance  from  the  Potomac  to 
the  banks  of  the  River  Plate,  penetrated  immedi- 
ately to  the  farthest  corner  of  the  American  Conti- 
nent, there  arising  soon  afterwards  a  New  World  of 
free  countries  where  the  undertakings  of  Solis  or 
Pizarro  and  of  Cortes  will  initiate  a  civilization 
destined  to  prosper  in  the  life-giving  blast  of  lib- 
erty and  in  the  vigorous  impulse  which  democracy 


ROMEU.  95 

infused  into  the  old  organizations  of  the  colonial 
regime.  The  example  of  the  United  States  and 
its  moral  assistance  animated  the  patriots. 

Put  to  the  proof  in  the  memorable  struggle  for 
emancipation,  its  fortitude  and  its  heroism  over- 
turned all  obstacles  until  the  desired  moment  of 
consolidation,  by  its  own  effort,  of  the  independence 
of  the  American  Continent.  Indeed,  the  influence 
of  the  United  States  in  the  diplomatic  negotiation 
which  preceded  the  recognition  of  the  new  nation- 
alities and  the  chivalrous  declaration  which  President 
Monroe  launched  before  the  world  contributed 
efficaciously  to  assure  the  stability  of  the  growing 
Republic.  Its  development  and  its  greatness  were, 
from  that  instant,  intrusted  to  the  patriotism  of  its 
sons,  to  the  confraternity  of  the  American  peoples, 
and  to  the  fecund  labor  of  the  coming  generations. 

In  spite  of  such  social  upheavals,  which  bring 
with  them  the  ready-made  collisions  of  arms,  the 
antagonism  of  interests,  and  the  struggle  of  ideas — 
inherent  factors  of  every  movement  of  emancipa- 
tion— the  nations  of  the  new  continent  should  not, 
nor  will  they,  ever  forget  that  from  Spanish  ground 
Columbus's  three-masted  vessel — a  Homeric  expe- 
dition— set  forth,  founders  of  numerous  peoples  and 
flourishing  colonies,  leaving  in  our  land  mementos, 
tongue,  customs,  sentiments,  and  traditions  which 
the  evolutions  of  the  human  spirit  do  not  easily  ob- 
literate. From  noble  France  and  its  glorious  revul- 
sion against  the  remnants  of  feudalism  arose  the 


96  URUGUAY. 

declaration  of  the  rights  of  man  and  equitable  ideas 
which  are  faithfully  portrayed  in  our  democratic 
institutions.  Italy,  Germany,  and  Spain  send  to 
America  a  valuable  contingent  of  their  emigration. 
The  currents  of  commerce  and  progress  were  at  one 
time,  and  they  are  at  the  present  time,  largely  fo- 
mented by  the  navy  and  the  capital  of  Great  Britain. 
From  the  Foreign  Office  of  that  nation,  among  all 
the  powers  of  old  Europe,  emanated  the  first  dispo- 
sition toward  the  recognition  of  American  inde- 
pendence. All  these  circumstances  are  bonds  of 
consideration  which  tie  us  to  the  European  coun- 
tries, but  which  do  not  hinder,  nor  can  they  hinder, 
our  relations  with  the  great  Northern  Republic,  as 
with  all  those  of  Latin  origin,  always  being  cordially 
maintained,  strengthened,  tightened,  and  increased 
towards  the  ends  of  highly  noble  and  patriotic  prog- 
ress, developing  a  world  policy  of  wise  prevision, 
tending  to  consolidate  the  destinies  of  the  American 
countries. 

Difficulties,  soon  to  disappear,  due  to  the  distance 
and  lack  of  rapid  and  direct  communications,  have 
impeded  the  active  interchange  between  the  United 
States  and  this  country,  barring  which  no  reason 
exists  why  their  social  and  commercial  relations 
may  not  be  extended  and  fomented  with  reciprocal 
advantages. 

In  giving  welcome  to  Mr.  Root  on  his  arrival  in 
Uruguayan  territory,  I  consider  as  one  of  my  most 
pleasing  personal  gratifications  the  fact  of  having 


ROMEU.  97 

initiated  the  idea  of  inviting  our  distinguished  guest 
to  visit  the  River  Plate  countries. 

If,  as  I  do  not  doubt,  the  visit  of  the  distinguished 
member  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
contributes  towards  the  peoples  of  the  north  and 
the  south  knowing  one  another — if  the  era  of  pan- 
American  fraternity  takes  the  flight  to  which  we 
should  aspire — if  these  demonstrations  of  courtesy 
are  to  tend,  therefore,  towards  the  progress  of  the 
nations  of  the  continent  and  the  mutual  respect  and 
consideration  of  their  respective  Governments,  the 
satisfaction  of  having  promoted  some  of  these  bene- 
fits and  the  honor  of  a  happy  initiative,  deferentially 
received  by  the  illustrious  Secretary  of  State,  to 
whom  the  Oriental  people  to-day  offer  the  testi- 
mony of  their  esteem  and  sympathy,  belong,  at  least 
in  part,  to  the  Uruguayan  Foreign  Office. 

I  drink,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  pan-American 
fraternity,  to  the  greatness  of  the  United  States  of 
North  America,  to  the  health  of  His  Excellency 
President  Roosevelt,  to  the  happiness  of  Mr.  Elihu 
Root  and  of  his  distinguished  family. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


YOUR  EXCELLENCY  : 

I  have  already  thanked  you  for  that  welcome 
message  which  greeted  my  first  advent  in  the  harbor 
of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  I  have  now  to  add  my  thanks, 
both  for  the  gracious  invitation  which  brings  me 
here  and  for  the  surpassing  kindness  and  hospitality 
with  which  I  and  my  family  have  been  welcomed  to 
Montevideo.  It  is  most  gratifying  to  hear  from  the 
lips  of  one  of  the  masters  of  South  American  diplo- 
macy, one  who  knows  the  reality  of  international 
politics,  so  just  an  estimate  of  the  attitude  of  my 
own  country  towards  her  South  American  sisters. 
The  great  declaration  of  Monroe,  made  in  the  in- 
fancy of  Latin- American  liberty,  was  an  assertion 
to  all  the  world  of  the  competency  of  Latin-Ameri- 
cans to  govern  themselves  and  their  countries.  That 
assertion  my  country  has  always  maintained,  and  my 
presence  here  is,  in  part,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
evidence  of  her  belief  that  the  truth  of  the  asser- 
tion has  been  demonstrated;  that,  in  the  progressive 
development  which  attends  the  course  of  nations, 
the  peoples  of  South  America  have  proved  that 
their  national  tendencies  and  capacities  are,  and  will 
be,  on  and  ever  on  in  the  path  of  ordered  liberty. 

98 


ROOT.  99 

I  am  here  to  learn  more,  and  also  to  demonstrate 
our  belief  in  the  substantial  similarity  of  interests 
and  sympathies  of  the  American  self-governing 
Republics. 

You  have  justly  indicated  that  there  is  nothing 
in  the  growing  friendship  between  our  countries 
which  imperils  the  interests  of  those  countries  in 
the  Old  World  from  which  we  have  drawn  our  lan- 
guages, our  traditions,  and  the  bases  of  our  customs 
and  our  laws. 

I  think  it  may  be  safely  said  that  those  nations 
who  planted  their  feeble  colonies  on  these  shores, 
from  which  we  have  spread  so  widely,  have  profited 
far  more  from  the  independence  of  the  American 
Republics  than  they  would  have  profited  if  their 
unwise  system  of  colonial  government  had  been 
continued.  In  the  establishment  of  these  free  and 
independent  nations  in  this  continent,  they  have 
obtained  a  profitable  outlet  for  their  trade,  employ- 
ment for  their  commerce,  food  for  their  people,  and 
refuge  for  their  poor  and  their  surplus  population. 
We  have  done  more  than  that.  We  have  tried  here 
their  experiments  in  government  for  them.  The 
reflex  action  of  the  American  experiments  in  gov- 
ernment has  been  felt  in  every  country  in  Europe 
without  exception,  and  has  been  far  more  effective 
in  its  influence  than  any  good  quality  of  the  old 
colonial  system  could  have  been.  And  now  our 
prosperity  but  adds  to  their  prosperity.  Intercourse 
in  trade,  exchange  of  thought  in  learning,  in  litera- 


IOO  URUGUAY. 

ture,  in  art — all  add  to  their  power  and  their  pros- 
perity, their  intellectual  activity,  and  their  commer- 
cial strength.  We  still  draw  from  their  stores  of 
wealth,  commercially,  spiritually,  intellectually,  and 
physically,  and  we  are  beginning  to  return,  in  a  rich 
measure,  with  interest,  what  we  have  got  from  them. 
We  have  learned  that  national  aggrandizement  and 
national  prosperity  are  to  be  gained  rather  by  national 
friendship  than  by  national  violence.  The  friend- 
ship for  your  country  that  we  from  the  north  have  is 
a  friendship  that  imperils  no  interest  of  Europe.  It 
is  a  friendship  that  springs  from  a  desire  to  promote 
the  common  welfare  of  mankind  by  advancing  the 
rule  of  order,  of  justice,  of  humanity,  and  of  the 
Christianity  which  makes  for  the  prosperity  and 
happiness  of  all  mankind.  It  is  not  as  a  messenger 
of  strife  that  I  come  to  you ;  but  I  am  here  as  the 
advocate  of  universal  friendship  and  peace. 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Jose1  Batlle  y  Ordonez, 
President  of  Uruguay,  at  the  banquet  given  by 
him  to  Mr.  Root  at  the  Government  House, 
August  n,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

We  celebrate  an  event  new  to  South  America : 
the  presence  in  the  heart  of  our  Republics  of  a 
member  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
of  the  North.  That  grand  nation  has  wished  thus 
to  manifest  the  interest  that  her  sisters  of  the  south 
inspire  in  her  and  her  purpose  of  strongly  drawing 
together  the  links  that  bind  her  to  them. 

Born  on  the  same  continent  and  in  the  same 
epoch,  ruled  by  the  same  institutions,  animated  by 
the  same  spirit  of  liberty  and  progress,  and  destined 
alike  to  cause  republican  ideas  to  prevail  on  earth, 
it  is  natural  that  the  nations  of  all  America  should 
approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  each  other  and  unite 
more  and  more  amongst  themselves ;  and  it  is  nat- 
ural, also,  that  the  most  powerful  and  the  most 
advanced  amongst  them  should  be  the  one  to  take 
the  initiative  in  this  union. 

Your  grand  Republic,  Mr.  Secretary  of  State, 
is  consistent  in  confiding  to  you  this  mission  of 

101 


IO2  URUGUAY. 

fraternity  and  solidarity  with  the  ideas  and  inten- 
tions manifested  by  her  at  the  dawn  of  the  liberty  of 
our  continent.  The  same  sentiment  that  inspired 
the  doctrine  of  Monroe  brings  you  to  our  shores 
as  the  herald  of  the  concord  and  community  of 
America. 

We  welcome  you  most  cordially.  You  find  us 
earnestly  laboring  to  make  justice  prevail,  enamored 
of  progress,  confident  in  the  future.  Far  removed 
from  the  European  Continent,  whence  emerges  the 
wave  of  humanity  that  peoples  the  American  terri- 
tories and  becomes  the  origin  of  nations  so  glorious 
as  yours,  the  growth  and  organization  of  the  peo- 
ples in  these  regions  have  been  slow,  and  public  and 
social  order  has  been  frequently  upset  in  our  distant 
and  scarcely  populated  prairies.  But  in  the  midst 
of  these  disturbances  that  have  likewise  afflicted,  in 
their  epochs  of  formation,  almost  all  the  present  best 
constituted  nations,  sound  tendencies  and  true  prin- 
ciples of  order  and  liberty  prevail,  nationalities  are 
constituted  in  a  definite  manner,  and  republican 
institutions  are  consecrated. 

Your  great  nation,  Mr.  Secretary  of  State,  is 
not  new  to  this  work.  She  has  had  important  par- 
ticipation in  it.  I  do  not  refer  to  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine that  made  the  elder  sister  the  zealous  defender 
of  the  younger  ones.  I  speak  of  the  radiant  exam- 
ple of  your  republican  virtue,  your  industrial  initia- 
tive, your  economic  development,  your  scientific 
advances,  your  ardent  and  virile  activity  that  has 


BATLLE.  IO3 

reinforced  our  faith  in  right,  in  liberty,  in  justice, 
in  the  Republic,  and  has  animated  us — as  a  noble 
and  victorious  example  does  animate — in  our  dark 
days  of  disturbance  and  disaster. 

Yes,  the  epoch  of  internal  convulsions  is  draw- 
ing to  its  close  in  this  part  of  America,  and  the 
peoples,  finding  themselves  organized  and  at  peace, 
are  dedicating  themselves  to  all  those  tasks  that 
exalt  the  human  mind  and  originate,  in  modern 
times,  the  greatness  of  nations.  You  tread  upon  a 
land  that  has  recently  been  watered  abundantly  with 
blood — upon  one  in  which,  nevertheless,  the  love  of 
liberty,  within  the  limits  of  order,  the  love  of  well- 
being,  and  the  love  of  progress  under  legal  and  up- 
right governments  is  intense ;  upon  one  in  which  we 
live  earnestly  dedicated,  in  all  branches  of  activity, 
to  the  labor  that  dignifies  and  fortifies,  certain  that 
for  us  has  commenced  an  honorable  era  of  internal 
peace.  You  have  said  it,  Mr.  Secretary  of  State : 
Out  of  the  tumult  of  wars  strong  and  stable  gov- 
ernments have  arisen ;  law  prevails  over  the  will  of 
man ;  right  and  liberty  are  respected. 

But  this  progress  of  public  reason  must  be  com- 
plemented. It  is  not  sufficient  that  internal  peace 
should  be  assured;  it  is  necessary  to  secure  exter- 
nal peace  also.  It  is  necessary  that  the  Ameri- 
can nations  should  draw  near  to  each  other ;  should 
know,  should  love  each  other;  it  is  requisite  to 
drive  away,  to  suppress  the  danger  of  distrust,  of 
rivalry,  and  of  international  conflicts;  that  the 


IO4  URUGUAY. 

same  sentiment  that  repudiated  internal  struggles 
should  rise  within  as  against  the  struggles  of  people 
against  people,  and  that  these  should  also  be  consid- 
ered as  the  unfruitful  shedding  of  the  blood  of 
brethren ;  that  the  calamitous  armed  peace  may 
never  appear  in  our  land,  and  that  the  enormous 
sums  used  to  sustain  it  on  the  European  and  Asiatic 
continents  be  employed  amongst  us  in  the  develop- 
ment of  industries,  commerce,  arts,  and  sciences. 

The  work  may  be  realized  by  determination  and 
constancy.  The  republican  institutions  that  every- 
where prevail  on  our  continent  are  not  propitious 
to  the  Caesars  who  make  their  glory  consist  in  the 
sinister  brilliancy  of  battles  and  in  the  increase  of 
their  territorial  domains.  These  same  institutions 
give  voice  and  vote  in  the  direction  of  public  affairs 
to  the  multitudes,  whose  primordial  interest  is  ever 
peace,  the  sparing  of  their  own  blood,  that  is  so 
unfruitfully  shed  in  the  great  catastrophes  of  war. 

America  will  be,  then,  the  continent  of  peace, 
of  a  just  peace,  founded  on  respect  for  the  rights  of 
all  nations,  a  respect  which — as  you,  Mr.  Secretary 
of  State,  have  said,  in  tones  that  have  resounded  all 
over  the  surface  of  the  earth,  deeply  moving  all  true 
hearts — must  be  as  great  for  the  weakest  nations  as 
for  the  most  vast  and  most  powerful  empires.  This 
pan-American  public  opinion  will  be  created  and 
will  be  made  effective,  a  public  opinion  charged  to 
systematize  the  international  conduct  of  the  nations, 
to  suppress  injustice,  and  to  establish  amongst  them 
relations  ever  more  and  more  profoundly  cordial. 


BATLLE.  IO5 

Your  country  and  your  Government  fulfill  the 
part,  not  of  the  false  friend  that  anarchizes  and 
weakens  her  friends  that  she  may  prevail  over  them 
and  dominate  them,  but  that  of  the  faithful  and  true 
one  who  exerts  herself  to  unite  them,  and,  that  they 
may  become  good  and  strong,  concurs  with  all  her 
moral  power  in  the  realization  of  this  work  of  the 
Pan-American  Congresses,  destined  to  become  a 
modern  amphictyon  to  whose  decisions  all  the  great 
American  questions  will  be  submitted,  already  giv- 
ing prestige  thereto  by  such  words  as  you  have 
spoken  to  the  heart  of  the  Congress  of  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
which  present  to  the  American  world  new  and  grand 
perspectives  of  peace  and  progress. 

Mr.  Secretary  of  State,  ladies,  and  gentlemen,  in 
the  presence  of  deeds  of  this  magnitude,  inspired 
and  filled  with  enthusiasm  by  them,  let  us  pour  out 
a  libation  to  the  United  States  of  the  North,  to  its 
vigorous  President,  to  you  and  to  your  distinguished 
family,  the  herald  of  continental  friendship,  and  to 
the  American  fatherland,  from  the  Bering  Straits 
to  Cape  Horn. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  PRESIDENT  : 

I  thank  you  for  the  kind  reference  to  myself, 
and  I  thank  you  for  the  high  terms  in  which  you 
have  spoken  of  my  country,  from  which  I  am  so  far 
away.  Do  not  think,  I  beg  you,  sir,  if  I  accept 
what  you  have  said  regarding  the  country  I  love, 
that  we,  in  the  north,  consider  ourselves  so  perfect 
as  your  description  of  us.  We  have  virtues,  we 
have  good  qualities,  and  we  are  proud  of  them ;  but 
we  ourselves  know  in  our  own  hearts  how  many 
faults  we  have.  We  know  the  mistakes  we  have 
made,  the  failures  we  have  made,  the  tasks  that  are 
still  before  us  to  perform.  Yet  from  the  experi- 
ences of  our  efforts  and  our  successes,  and  from  the 
experiences  of  our  faults  and  our  failures,  we,  the 
oldest  of  the  organized  Republics  of  America,  say 
to  you  of  Uruguay,  and  to  all  our  sisters,  "Be  of 
good  cheer  and  confident  hope." 

You  have  said,  Mr.  President,  in  your  eloquent 
remarks  this  evening,  that  the  progress  of  Uruguay 
has  been  slow.  Slow  as  measured  by  our  lives, 
perhaps,  but  not  slow  as  measured  by  the  lives  of 
nations.  The  march  of  civilization  is  slow ;  it  moves 
little  in  single  human  lives.  Through  the  centuries 

106 


ROOT. 

and  the  ages  it  proceeds  with  deliberate  and  certain 
step.  Look  to  England,  whence  came  the  princi- 
ples embodied  in  your  constitution,  and  ours,  where 
first  were  developed  the  principles  of  free  repre- 
sentative government.  Remember  through  how 
many  generations  England  fought  and  bled  in  her 
wars  of  the  White  and  the  Red — her  blancos  and 
colorados — the  white  rose  of  York  and  the  red  rose 
of  Lancaster,  before  she  could  win  her  way  to  the 
security  of  English  law. 

Look  to  France,  whence  came  the  great  dec- 
larations of  the  rights  of  man,  and  remember — I  in 
my  own  time  can  remember — the  Tuilleries  stand- 
ing in  bright  and  peaceful  beauty,  and  then  in 
a  pile  of  blackened  ruins  bearing  the  inscription, 
"Liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity,"  doing  injustice 
to  liberty,  to  equality,  and  to  fraternity.  These 
nations  have  passed  through  their  furnaces.  Every 
nation  has  had  its  own  hard  experience  in  its  pro- 
gressive development,  but  a  nation  is  certain  to  pro- 
gress if  its  tendency  is  right.  It  is  so  with  Uruguay. 
You  are  passing  through  the  phases  of  steady  de- 
velopment. The  restless  and  untiring  soul  of  Jose" 
Artigas,  who  made  the  independence  of  Uruguay 
possible,  did  its  work  in  its  time,  but  its  time  is  past ; 
it  is  not  the  day  of  Artigas  now. 

The  genius  of  the  two  great  men,  for  the  love 
of  whom  your  political  parties  crystallized  upon  one 
side  and  upon  the  other,  had  its  day,  but  that  day 
has  passed  away.  Step  by  step  Uruguay  is  taking 
its  course,  as  the  elder  nations  of  the  earth  have  been 


IO8  URUGUAY. 

taking  theirs,  steadily  onward  and  upward,  seeking 
more  perfect  justice  and  ordered  liberty. 

One  of  the  most  deeply  seated  feelings  in  the 
human  heart  is  love  of  approbation.  May  we  not 
have  such  relations  to  each  other  that  the  desire  for 
each  other's  approbation  shall  sustain  us  in  the  right 
course  and  warn  us  away  from  the  wrong,  and  help 
us  in  our  development  to  preserve  high  ideals,  the 
ideals  of  justice  and  humanity  necessary  to  free  self- 
government?  It  is  with  that  hope  that  I  am  here, 
your  guest.  It  is  with  that  desire  that  my  people 
send  the  message  of  friendship  to  yours. 

In  the  name  of  my  President,  Theodore  Roose- 
velt, I  offer  to  you,  Mr.  President,  the  most  sincere 
assurance  of  friendship  and  confidence. 


Speech  of  Doctor  Zorrilla  de  San  Martin  at  a  break- 
fast given  to  Mr.  Root  and  his  family  by  the 
Reception  Committee,  in  the  Atheneum  at  Monte- 
video, August  12,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

MR.  SECRETARY;  MADAME: 

Before  we  rise  from  the  table  I  have  the  pleas- 
ant task  of  saying  to  you  a  few  words  to  reflect  and 
perpetuate  the  sentiment  which  has  caused  us  to 
desire  to  share  with  you  the  bread  of  Uruguay  and 
to  drink  in  your  company  the  wine  which  gladdens 
the  heart  of  man,  according  to  the  expression  of  the 
Holy  Book. 

Yes,  Mr.  Secretary,  we  feel  glad  and  happy  to 
see  you  among  us,  and  we  wish  that  this  meal,  at 
which,  as  you  see,  a  representative  group  of  the 
ladies  of  Montevidean  society  surrounds  and  be- 
stows graceful  attention  upon  your  most  worthy 
spouse  and  your  daughter,  might  be  a  symbol  of 
the  testimonial  of  the  most  intense  affection  which 
can  be  shown  to  a  welcome  guest — that  of  opening 
to  you  the  door  of  our  home,  that  of  introducing 
you  into  the  affections  of  our  household. 

109 


110  URUGUAY. 

Yes,  we  feel  glad,  sir,  not  only  because  we  have 
the  honor  of  knowing  you  to  be  a  gentleman  and 
an  illustrious  personage  who  is  a  glory  among  the 
glories  of  our  America,  but  because — I  must  be 
very  frank  to  you  now — because  we  are  convinced 
that  this  visit  of  yours  will  redound  to  the  honor  as 
well  as  the  benefit  of  that  which  is  dearest  to  us,  of 
that  which  we  love  above  all  else  on  earth,  namely, 
our  good  mother  country,  Uruguay,  this  good  sover- 
eign mother  of  ours  who  is  the  mistress  of  our  life 
and  whom  we  can  not  help  believing,  under  pain  of 
ceasing  to  be  her  sons,  to  be  the  greatest,  the  most 
beautiful,  and  the  most  amiable  of  mothers,  just  as 
you  think  of  yours,  sir;  just  as  you  feel  regarding 
your  excellent  American  land.  We,  sir,  being 
perhaps  carried  away  by  an  ingenuous  filial  illu- 
sion, are  persuaded  that  to  know  our  Uruguay  is  to 
love  her,  and  for  this  reason  we  have  desired  that 
you  should  know  her ;  for  this  reason  we  cherish 
the  hope  that,  when  you  have  returned  to  your 
country  and  recall  the  sum  of  reminiscences  of  this 
your  memorable  voyage,  pleasant  and  lucid  recol- 
lections will  burst  forth  of  this  people  which  has 
been  the  first  to  shake  your  hand  upon  your  setting 
foot  for  the  first  time  on  the  soil  of  a  Republic  of 
subtropical  America,  and  which  offers  you  its  bread 
and  drinks  with  you  the  wine  of  friendship  in  a 
sincere  transport  of  enduring  sympathy. 

We  thought,  Mr.  Secretary,  that  we  saw  you 
respectfully  kiss  the  brow  of  our  mother  when,  in  a 


SAN    MARTIN.  Ill 

moment  which  should  be  considered  historical,  you 
defined  at  the  Pan-American  Congress  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro  the  object  and  character  of  your  visit  to  the 
Spanish-American  Republics — to  these  favorite 
daughters  who  are  advancing  slowly  but  surely  up 
the  steep  mountain  at  whose  summit  the  ideal  awaits 
them  of  self-government,  freedom,  and  order,  and 
the  reign  of  internal  justice  and  peace,  which  are  the 
foundation  and  real  guaranty  of  the  reign  of  inter- 
national justice  and  peace,  to  which  we  aspire. 

Yes,  Mr.  Secretary,  you  spoke  the  truth  in  your 
memorable  speech  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  your  words 
seem  like  corner  stones.  Sovereign  states  are  not 
entities  merely  coexisting  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
but  are  members  of  one  great  palpitating  organism, 
being  collective  persons  who,  obeying  the  same 
natural  law  which  groups  together  physical  persons 
into  civil  and  political  society,  also  instinctively 
group  themselves  together  in  order  to  form  the 
body,  the  life,  and  the  thought  of  the  international 
world.  But  just  as  social  life,  far  from  disparaging 
the  essential  attributes  of  the  sacred  human  person, 
constitutes  the  ambient  medium  necessary  to  the 
life,  the  development,  and  the  attainment  of  the  in- 
alienable destiny  of  man,  so  this  great  common- 
wealth of  nations,  whose  permanent  establishment 
in  America  is  the  earnest  desire  of  the  Congress  we 
are  holding  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  should  have  as  its 
inviolable  basis  and  essential  purpose  the  life,  the 
honor,  the  prosperity,  and  the  glory  of  the  sovereign 
States  which  constitute  it. 


112  URUGUAY. 

You  have  proclaimed  democracy,  sir,  as  the 
most  powerful  bond  which  unites  the  Republics  of 
America.  But  democracy  is  nothing  else  than  the 
equality  of  men  before  the  law,  and  is  consequently 
above  all  the  triumphant  revindication  of  the  right 
of  the  weak  in  their  relations  with  the  strong. 
Therefore,  sir,  in  pronouncing  this  name  of  our 
common  mother,  you  did  so  only  in  order  to 
proclaim,  as  the  American  ideal  in  the  relations  of 
states,  the  same  highly  noble  principle  which  gov- 
erns the  relations  of  free  men  and  which  is  the 
essence  of  our  being ;  you  proclaimed,  then,  a  spe- 
cies of  international  American  democracy  in  the 
bosom  of  which  all  persons  should  be  persons  with 
full  self-consciousness,  with  an  individual  destiny 
independent  of  the  destiny  of  others,  with  the  moral 
and  material  means  to  accomplish  this  destiny,  with 
freedom,  with  dignity,  and  with  all  the  attributes 
which  characterize  and  ennoble  the  person  and 
distinguish  it  from  inferior  beings. 

In  order  to  elevate  the  moral  level  of  this  great 
international  democracy  which  you  have  proclaimed 
and  of  which  our  America  should  be  the  prototype, 
there  is  but  one  means,  namely,  to  elevate  the  level 
of  all  and  every  one  of  the  units  which  compose  it, 
and  to  stimulate  in  all  and  every  one  of  them  a  con- 
sciousness of  and  pride  in  their  own  destiny,  an 
undying  love  for  the  abstract  idea  of  country,  and 
a  deep  conviction  that  in  the  sphere  of  peoples,  just 
as  in  that  of  the  orbs,  there  is  no  star,  no  matter 


SAN    MARTfN.  113 

how  powerful,  which  can  perturb  the  gravitation  of 
the  stars;  for  over  the  entire  body  of  the  worlds 
stands  the  immutable  law  which  governs  them,  and 
over  this  law  is  the  sovereign  will  of  the  Supreme 
Legislator  of  orbs  and  of  souls. 

This  was  the  echo  in  my  mind,  Mr.  Secretary,  of 
what  you  said  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  of  what  you  are 
confirming  among  us.  Your  words  were  great  and 
good  because  they  were  yours,  without  any  doubt ; 
but  they  were  so,  above  all,  because  they  were  har- 
monious and  in  accord  with  the  ideal  of  justice  in 
pursuit  of  which  humanity  is  slowly  marching — with 
that  solemn  diapason  hung  between  heaven  and 
earth  which  furnishes  the  pitch  from  time  to  time 
to  men  and  peoples  and  worlds  in  order  that  they 
may  not  depart  from  the  universal  harmony. 

Your  words  have  reverberated  like  a  friendly 
voice  in  the  depths  of  the  soul  of  this  people,  which 
has  acclaimed  you  without  reserve  because  it  has 
understood  you,  sir.  And  for  this  reason,  because 
I  have  thought  that  I  interpreted  all  the  generous 
intensity  of  your  attitude  and  of  your  speeches,  I 
have  not  told  you  at  this  time,  as  would  have  ap- 
peared natural,  how  much  we  in  Uruguay  love  and 
admire  your  wonderful  American  country,  whose 
stars  shine  perhaps  without  precedent  in  the  sky  of 
human  history,  but  rather  how  much  we  respect  and 
with  what  a  passion  we  love  our  good  Uruguayan 
mother  country,  whose  sun  is  also  a  star ;  how  glad 
we  are  to  see  it  honored  by  your  visit,  and  how  we 


114  URUGUAY. 

cherish  the  hope  that  you  will  bear  away  a  remem- 
brance of  us  as  a  sincerely  friendly  people — a .  peo- 
ple very  conscious  of  its  own  destinies,  of  its  rights, 
and  of  its  duties ;  in  a  word,  a  people  very  much  in 
accord  with  that  grand  harmony  which  exists  among 
sovereign  states  which  respect  and  love  one  another, 
and  which  you  have  proclaimed  in  the  name  of  our 
country  as  the  supreme  ideal  of  our  free  America. 
Ladies  and  gentlemen,  let  us  fill  our  glasses  with 
the  most  generous  wine,  with  the  wine  which 
most  gladdens  and  cheers  the  heart  of  man — with 
the  wine  of  hope — and  let  us  drink  to  the  health  of 
our  illustrious  guest  and  messenger  who  is  here  the 
intelligence  and  the  thought  of  the  heart,  and  to 
the  health  of  his  wife  and  daughter,  who  are  the 
amiable  symbol  thereof;  to  the  greater  brilliancy 
of  the  stars  of  his  country,  our  glorious  friend ;  to 
the  realization,  on  the  American  continent  and 
throughout  the  world,  of  his  generous  ideas  of  peace, 
fraternity,  and  justice. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN,  SENOR  ZORRILLA  DE  SAN  MARTIN, 
GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE,  AND  LADIES 
AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  MONTEVIDEO: 
I  am  deeply  sensible  of  the  honor  which  you 
confer  upon  me  and  upon  my  family  by  this  boun- 
teous, hospitable,  and  graceful  festival.  It  is  a 
special  honor  that  the  banquet  to  which  we  are  in- 
vited should  be  presided  over  by  a  gentleman  who 
has  such  high  esteem  in  the  public  life  of  your  own 
country ;  that  the  flattering,  the  too  flattering,  words 
which  have  been  addressed  to  my  poor  self — words 
of  just  and  kindly  esteem  regarding  my  great  and 
noble  country — should  be  spoken  by  a  poet  who 
breathes  in  his  verses  the  spirit,  of  Uruguay  wher- 
e\j£r  his  own  world-known  literature  is  found. 

It  is  a  cause  of  happiness  to  receive  this  distin- 
guished consideration  here  in  this  temple  devoted 
to  science,  to  literature,  to  the  arts,  to  those  pursuits 
which  dignify,  ennoble,  and  delight  mankind,  which 
give  the  charm  and  grace  to  life,  which  make  pos- 
sible the  continuance  of  mankind  in  the  paths  of 
civilization.  Here  in  this  Atheneum,  in  this  at- 
mosphere of  scientific  and  literary  discussion  and 
thought,  already  exists  that  world-wide  republic 


Il6  URUGUAY. 

which  knows  no  divisions  of  territorial  boundary,  of 
races,  or  of  creed.  Upon  the  platform  which  you 
have  erected  here,  the  men  of  North  and  the  men 
of  South  America  can  stand  in  fraternal  embrace. 
I  have  been  preaching  for  the  past  few  weeks 
in  many  places  and  before  many  audiences  the  gos- 
pel of  international  fraternization.  I  know  there  are 
many  incredulous ;  there  are  many  who  think  prac- 
tical considerations  alone  rule  the  efforts  of  men- 
profit  in  trade,  the  almighty  dollar,  the  balance  of 
bookkeeping,  or  the  checks  in  the  countinghouse. 
There  are  many  who  think  that  this  is  all  there  is 
to  life  and  that  he  is  an  idle  dreamer  and  insincere 
orator  who  talks  of  the  constancy  of  international 
friendship,  who  talks  of  love  of  country  rising  above 
the  love  of  material  things,  who  talks  of  sentiment 
as  controlling  the  affairs  of  men.  That  may  be 
true  so  far  as  their  own  short  and  narrow  lives  are 
concerned,  but  it  is  not  an  idle  dream  that  the  world 
through  the  course  of  ages  is  growing  up  from  ma- 
terial to  spiritual,  to  moral,  and  to  intellectual  life. 
It  is  not  an  idle  dream  that  moral  influences  are 
gradually,  steadily  in  the  course  of  centuries  taking 
the  place  of  brute  force  in  the  control  of  affairs 
of  men.  Sentiment  rules  the  world  to-day — the 
feelings  of  the  great  masses  of  mankind ;  the  attrac- 
tions and  repulsions  that  move  the  millions  rule  the 
world  to-day,  and  as  generation  succeeds  generation 
progress  is  ever  from  the  material  to  the  moral. 
We  can  not  see  it  in  a  day ;  we  can  not  see  it  in  a 


ROOT.  1 1  7 

single  lifetime,  as  we  can  not  see  the  movement  of 
the  tide.  We  see  the  waves,  but  the  tide  moves  on 
imperceptibly.  The  progress,  the  steady  and  irre- 
sistible progress,  of  civilization  is  ever  on. 

Mr.  Chairman,  and  you,  Senor  Zorrilla  de  San 
Martin,  in  your  eloquent,  your  more  than  eloquent, 
your  poetic  words  to-day  do  honor  to  the  idea  of 
peace  and  justice  and  friendship  and  the  rule  of  moral 
qualities  in  the  relations  of  nations.  When  you  do 
honor  to  the  representative  of  that  idea  you  are 
doing  your  work  in  your  day  and  generation  to 
advance  the  great  cause  that  proceeds  through  the 
ages  to  the  better  and  higher  life  of  mankind.  We 
are  nothing;  our  lives  are  but  as  moments;  our 
personal  work  is  inappreciable  in  this  world :  but 
slowly,  imperceptibly,  we,  each  individually,  add  a 
little  to  or  detract  a  little  from  human  rights,  human 
liberty,  human  justice. 

I  do  not  know  how  sufficiently  to  thank  you,  to 
thank  the  people  of  Montevideo,  for  all  that  you 
and  they  have  done  for  me  and  my  family  during 
our  brief — our  all  too  brief — visit  here.  I  believe 
that  your  kindness,  your  generous  hospitality,  will 
find  response  in  the  breasts  of  my  countrymen ;  I 
believe  that  it  will  be  an  example  to  the  people  of 
South  America  and  of  North  America;  I  believe 
that  it  will  be  evidence  to  the  whole  world  that  the 
ideas  of  friendship — of  international  friendship  and 
courtesy — of  kindness  rule  here  in  Uruguay;  that 
Uruguay  is  a  part  of  the  great  brotherhood  of  man, 


Il8  URUGUAY. 

not  selfish,  but  heart  open  to  the  best  and  brightest 
influences  of  humanity,  doing  her  part  in  her  time 
to  advance  the  cause  of  civilization.  I  know  that 
when  to-morrow  morning  we  sail  away  from  Monte- 
video we  shall  all  carry  with  us  the  most  delightful 
visions  of  a  fair  and  bright  land,  of  a  white  city  and 
a  beautiful  bay ;  memories  of  hospitality  and  friend: 
ship,  and  memories  of  the  most  beautiful  women. 
We  can  never  repay  you,  for  your  hospitality  has 
been  of  the  kind  that  asks  for  no  payment;  it  has 
been  true  hospitality.  We  can  only  thank  you,  and 
thank  you  we  do  now  and  thank  you  we  shall  as 
long  as  we  live. 


IV. 


Speeches  in  Argentina. 


Speech  of  Honorable  Emilio  Mitre,  Member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  of  Argentina,  in  reference 
to  the  visit  of  Mr.  Root,  made  in  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies  on  July  4,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

[This  speech,  although  delivered  before  Mr.  Root  reached  Buenos 
Aires,  had  so  intimate  a  relation  to  his  reception  as  to  belong  properly 
in  this  collection.] 

Within  a  few  weeks,  Mr.  President,  Buenos 
Aires  will  receive  the  visit  of  an  eminent  person- 
ality of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Elihu  Root,  who  is 
discharging  in  that  country  the  duties  of  Secretary 
of  State. 

The  Executive  of  the  nation,  having  official 
knowledge  of  the  visit  of  this  personage,  has  already 
taken  measures  to  entertain  him  and  to  make  his 
sojourn  in  the  Argentine  Republic  agreeable ;  but 
it  has  appeared  to  me,  Mr.  President,  that  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  should  of  itself  and  sponta- 
neously take  an  initiative  in  this  manifestation,  in 
view  of  the  personality  of  the  man  and  in  view  of 
the  country  that  Mr.  Root  represents. 

The  United  States  are  for  us — as  is  well  known — 
the  cradle  of  our  democratic  institutions;  we  are 
bound  to  them  by  those  ties  of  friendship  and  of 

121 


122  ARGENTINA. 

interest  that  are  known  to  all  and  which  it  would 
be  superfluous  to  enumerate ;  but  apart  from  this 
there  exist  between  that  country  and  ours  histor- 
ical bonds  that  secure  our  profound  sympathies. 

It  is  beneficial  from  time  to  time  to  ascend  the 
currents  of  history  in  order  to  gather  in  them  the 
lessons  of  the  past  which  may  serve  us  as  a  guide 
in  the  constant  march  in  the  future.  When  we 
study  in  its  annals  the  action  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  in  the  epic  of  Argentine  inde- 
pendence, we  encounter  demonstrations  of  a  solici- 
tude, of  an  affection,  of  a  solidarity,  of  a  participation 
in  the  struggles  of  those  heroic  times  so  marked 
that  the  Argentine  spirit  necessarily  feels  itself  im- 
pressed with  the  sentiment  of  intense  gratitude  and 
the  necessity  of  repaying  in  some  way  those  mani- 
festations now  somewhat  forgotten. 

It  is  of  importance,  Mr.  President,  at  the  pres- 
ent moment  that  people  should  know  well  the 
other  peoples  with  which  they  exchange  products, 
manufactures,  and  ideas,  especially  when,  in  respect 
to  the  latter,  those  that  they  receive  surpass  in  quan- 
tity those  that  they  give.  And  if  there  is  any  coun- 
try that  the  Argentine  people  need  to  know  well, 
any  people,  in  its  history,  in  its  methods,  in  its  sen- 
timents, and  in  its  intention,  it  is  the  United  States 
of  America,  the  elder  sister,  the  forerunner,  and  the 
model. 

In  the  epoch  of  our  independence,  Mr.  President, 
the  public  life  of  the  United  States  was  felt  con- 


MITRE.  123 

stantly  interested  in  the  vicissitudes  of  the  struggle 
that  on  both  slopes  of  the  Andes  and  in  the  regions 
of  Venezuela  these  peoples  waged  for  their  inde- 
pendence. If  you  read  the  messages  of  the  Presi- 
dents of  the  United  States  you  find  in  them,  year 
after  year,  words  that  prove  the  interest  of  that 
country  in  the  destiny  of  these  countries.  At  a 
date  as  early  as  181 1  a  message  of  Madison  contains 
phrases  full  of  sympathy  for  the  great  communities 
which  in  this  part  of  the  world  were  struggling  for 
their  liberty,  and  the  attention  of  Congress  was 
called  to  the  necessity  of  being  prepared  to  enter 
into  relations  of  government  to  government  with 
them  as  soon  as  their  independence  should  be 
sanctioned. 

From  the  time  in  which  Monroe,  the  author  of 
the  famous  doctrine,  assumed  the  Presidency  of  the 
Republic,  in  all  the  messages  at  the  opening  of 
Congress  there  is  a  distinct  reference  to  the  strug- 
gle of  these  nations  for  their  independence  and  in 
particular  to  the  conflict  that  developed  in  the  Rio 
de  la  Plata  and  the  victorious  progress  of  the  arms 
of  Buenos  Aires  on  this  and  on  the  other  side  of  the 
mountains  and  on  the  plateau  of  Bolivia. 

In  all  these  documents  reference  is  made  to  the 
independence  as  a  probable  fact,  which  must  neces- 
sarily at  that  time  have  exerted  an  influence  in 
favor  of  the  cause  of  the  patriots;  and  often  the 
declaration  was  repeated  that,  the  colonies  being 
emancipated,  the  United  States  did  not  seek  and 


1 24  ARGENTINA. 

would  not  accept  from  them  any  commercial  ad- 
vantage that  was  not  likewise  offered  to  all  the 
other  nations. 

These  manifestations  which  emanated  from  the 
Government  and  reflected  the  movement  of  public 
opinion  also  found  eloquent  exponents  in  Congress. 

In  the  records  of  the  American  Congress  of 
1817,  one  year  after  the  declaration  of  independence 
of  the  Congress  of  Tucuman,  a  famous  debate  is 
recorded,  begun  by  Henry  Clay,  the  celebrated 
orator,  who  plead  the  cause  of  Argentine  inde- 
pendence in  the  most  enthusiastic  and  warmest 
terms.  In  this  debate  a  Representative  from  New 
York  also  took  a  prominent  part ;  this  Representa- 
tive bore  the  same  name  as  the  envoy  whom  we 
are  to  receive  from  the  United  States  of  America, 
Mr.  Root. 

Spain  had  complained  of  the  expeditions  that 
were  fitted  out  in  ports  of  the  United  States  to 
foment  American  revolution.  The  Government 
was  tolerant  with  these  infractions  of  neutrality; 
popular  sympathy  made  the  condemnation  of  such 
conspirators  impossible.  Spain,  with  whom,  the 
United  States  had  relations  of  great  importance  and 
with  whom  they  were  negotiating  the  cession  of 
Florida,  had  protested  to  the  Government  against 
these  expeditions  of  its  rebellious  subjects.  The 
Government,  forced  to  do  so,  had  sent  to  Congress 
a  message  requesting  the  sanction  of  a  law  of  neu- 
trality. Clay  and  Root  opposed  it,  and  the  latter 


MITRE.  125 

said  that  it  was  worth  while  to  go  to  war  with  Spain 
if  a  demonstration  in  favor  of  the  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence of  those  countries  could  be  made.  Later, 
during  the  Administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams, 
these  manifestations  of  the  American  Government 
in  favor  of  Argentine  independence  are  met  with  on 
every  page  of  the  records  of  that  Congress.  In  1 8 1 8 
the  first  discussion  took  place  in  the  American  Con- 
gress— a  concrete  discussion  on  the  necessity  of 
recognizing  Argentine  independence.  Henry  Clay 
was,  as  always,  the  leader  of  this  discussion,  follow- 
ing up  the  movements  which  he  had,  with  extraor- 
dinary zeal,  made  at  reunions,  in  the  press,  and  in 
Congress.  He  delivered  a  speech  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  one  to  read  without  feeling  his  spirit  moved 
on  observing  the  solicitude,  the  interest,  with  which 
at  that  early  date  this  apostle  of  democracy  ex- 
pressed himself  in  regard  to  the  struggle  of  these 
peoples  to  gain  their  final  independence. 

All,  without  exception,  pronounced  themselves 
in  favor  of  the  independence  of  these  peoples, 
which  they  recognized  in  principle.  But  a  parlia- 
mentary question  of  privilege  was  raised,  as  to  the 
prerogative  of  the  Executive,  it  being  alleged  that 
the  initiative,  proposed  by  Clay,  of  naming  a  min- 
ister to  these  countries  encroached  upon  the  func- 
tions of  the  Executive  when  the  latter  had  believed 
it  wise  to  send  simply  agents.  On  this  question 
opinion  was  divided,  but  not  a  single  vote  was  cast 
that  did  not  express  the  warmest  sympathy  with 
the  cause  of  the  patriots. 


126  ARGENTINA. 

While  such  was  the  action  of  the  American  Con- 
gress, in  the  press  and  in  popular  meetings  manifesta- 
tions of  adhesion  to  the  cause  of  the  South  American 
independence  appeared  at  every  moment.  But 
above  all,  the  place  where  traces  of  this  determined 
action  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in 
favor  of  Argentine  independence  are  found  in  the 
records  of  the  State  Department  at  Washington,  in 
which  reference  is  made  to  the  activity  of  its  repre- 
sentative in  London,  at  that  time  the  famous  states- 
man Richard  Rush.  Rush  was  the  minister  of  the 
United  States  in  London  from  the  end  of  1817, 
when  he  left  the  post  of  Secretary  of  State.  He 
began  negotiations  immediately  with  Lord  Castle- 
reagh,  who  was  Prime  Minister  of  England,  to  in- 
duce the  British  Foreign  Office  to  enter  upon  a 
policy  of  frank  adhesion  to  the  emancipation  of 
these  countries  from  the  dominion  of  Spain.  There 
we  see,  Mr.  President,  how  united  the  action  of 
the  United  States  was  in  this  movement,  inspired 
by  the  most  sincere  democratic  desires,  by  a  true 
love  of  liberty. 

The  Prime  Minister  of  England  received  his  pro- 
posals coldly.  England  had  been  appealed  to  by 
Spain  to  mediate  between  her  and  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance, in  order  to  obtain  the  submission  of  the  rebel- 
lious provinces,  and  England  had  manifested  the 
advisability  of  acceding  to  this  reintegration  of 
Spanish  dominion,  on  the  basis  of  the  return  of 
these  countries  to  a  state  of  dependence,  with  the 
condition  of  a  general  amnesty. 


MITRE.  127 

In  the  conferences  between  Lord  Castlereagh 
and  Minister  Rush,  the  latter  positively  declared 
that  the  United  States  could  never  contribute  to 
such  regression  and  that  the  aims  of  their  Govern- 
ment entered  decidedly  into  the  recognition  of  the 
complete  independence  of  America.  This  was  in 
1818. 

It  would  occupy  much  time,  Mr.  President,  but 
would  not  be  without  interest,  to  review  in  detail 
all  the  negotiations  entered  into  by  the  North 
American  representative  in  London  from  the  time 
of  Lord  Castlereagh  to  that  of  Canning,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  Government  after  the  tragic  death 
of  his  predecessor. 

In  February,  1819,  Rush  notified  Castlereagh 
that  the  Washington  Government  considered  that 
the  new  South  American  States  had  established  the 
position  obtained  by  the  victory  of  their  arms  and 
that  President  Monroe  had  given  an  exequatur  to 
a  consul  from  Buenos  Aires  and  was  resolved  at 
all  hazards  to  recognize  Argentine  independence. 
Lord  Castlereagh  declared  himself  openly  at  vari- 
ance with  the  views  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  and  said  that  Great  Britain  had  done 
all  that  was  possible  to  terminate  the  strife  between 
Spain  and  her  colonies,  but  always  on  the  basis  of 
the  restoration  of  the  dominion  of  the  former.  In 
1819,  then,  the  United  States  were  the  only  nation 
that  insisted  upon  asserting  the  independence  of 
our  country. 


128  ARGENTINA. 

Thanks  to  their  attitude,  all  the  attempts  begun 
by  the  Holy  Alliance  to  suppress  the  movement  for 
emancipation  failed. 

The  death  of  Lord  Castlereagh  did  not  change 
the  situation.  The  acts  of  Canning  even,  if  exam- 
ined, and  if  the  negotiations  of  the  then  American 
minister  are  analyzed,  leave  an  impression  of  oppo- 
sition, because  that  great  British  Minister,  who 
according  to  history  clinched,  as  it  were,  the  in- 
dependence of  this  country  with  his  celebrated 
declaration,  was  not  always  of  the  same  way  of 
thinking  and  it  was  necessary  for  the  minister  of  the 
United  States  to  inculcate  in  him  the  policy  of  his 
country  in  order  that  he  should  decide  to  adopt  a 
policy  openly  favorable  to  South  American  inde- 
pendence. Such  is  the  finding  of  the  most  credited 
of  Argentine  historians. 

March  8,  1822,  President  Monroe  sent  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  his  celebrated  message 
proposing  the  recognition  of  the  Argentine  inde- 
pendence. In  that  message  the  President  renewed 
his  assurances  of  sympathy  for  the  cause  of  Buenos 
Aires  and  confirmed  the  entire  disinterest  with  which 
his  Government  espoused  the  cause  of  the  political 
integrity  of  the  youthful  nation.  The  House  of 
Representatives  voted  the  recognition  of  Argentine 
independence  unanimously,  except  for  one  vote — 
that  of  Representative  Garnett,  who  declared  that  he 
did  not  object  to  the  recognition,  but  that  he  con- 
sidered it  unnecessary,  and  cited  in  support  of  his 
view  an  opinion  of  Rivadavia  on  the  same  matter. 


MITRE.  129 

The  United  States  was,  then,  the  first  country  after 
Portugal  (which  through  motives  of  special  interest 
had  recognized  our  independence)  to  make  a  similar 
recognition;  and  England,  which  followed  them,  did 
not  do  so  until  three  years  later,  January  i,  1825. 

Even  after  the  recognition  of  Argentine  inde- 
pendence by  the  United  States  of  America  confer- 
ences continued  to  be  held  in  Europe  to  establish  the 
regime  of  dominion  of  the  mother  country  over  the 
already  independent  colonies.  Then  new  confer- 
ences took  place  with  Canning,  in  which  the  minis- 
ter of  the  United  States  confirmed  anew  the  policy 
of  his  country  in  the  matter  of  the  final  recognition 
of  the  independence  of  this  Republic.  During  that 
period  a  document  appeared  that  emanated  from 
Quincy  Adams,  addressed  to  Rush,  in  which  he  de- 
clined to  enter  into  the  plan  of  convoking  a  con- 
gress which  was  intended  to  treat  of  the  questions 
of  South  America,  and  stated  that  the  United  States 
would  never  attend  that  congress  unless  the  South 
American  Republics  were  first  invited. 

To  accentuate  the  attitude  of  his  Government 
well,  Quincy  Adams  adds  that  if  the  congress  were 
to  take  place,  with  intent  hostile  to  the  new  Repub- 
lics, the  United  States  would  solemnly  protest 
against  it  and  its  calamitous  consequences. 

The  systematic  and  persistent  action  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Union  ended  by  determining  in 
Canning  a  policy  favorable  to  South  American  in- 
dependence and  opposed  to  the  intervention  of  any 
foreign  power  in  the  destinies  of  the  new  Republics. 


130  ARGENTINA. 

Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  once  in 
accord,  after  negotiations  in  which  Jefferson  and 
Madison  united  their  counsel  to  that  of  President 
Monroe,  these  two  patriots  expressing  themselves 
in  terms  of  moving  eloquence  in  favor  of  the  cause 
of  emancipation,  the  question  was  settled  forever. 

Some  months  afterward,  December  2, 1823,  Presi- 
dent Monroe  consummated  his  action  by  sending  to 
Congress  the  message  that  contains  the  enunciation 
of  his  famous  doctrine.  "America  for  the  Ameri- 
cans," Mr.  President,  was  a  formula  that,  as  I  un- 
derstand it,  meant  the  final  consecration  of  the 
independence  of  the  American  nations;  it  was  the 
voice  of  the  most  powerful  of  them  all,  proclaiming 
to  the  world  that  conquest  in  the  domain  of  this 
America  was  at  an  end ;  it  was  the  notification  to  the 
conquering  powers  of  Europe  that  they  should  not 
extend  themselves  to  these  continents  because  the 
extensive  territory  thereof  was  all  occupied  by  free 
nations,  outside  of  whose  sovereignty  not  an  inch 
was  vacant. 

The  independence  of  these  Republics  having 
been  settled  on  the  field  of  battle  by  the  sole  force 
of  the  Republics,  the  declaration  of  the  American 
President  is  the  culminating  act  of  that  grand  epic. 
For  the  United  States  it  is  a  stamp  of  honor ;  for 
Europe  it  is  an  imposition. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  exists  to-day  with  all  the 
force  of  a  law  of  nations,  and  no  country  of  Europe 
has  dared  to  dispute  it. 


MITRE.  131 

It  is  fitting,  it  is  worth  while,  Mr.  President,  to 
appreciate  exactly  the  meaning  of  this  great  act, 
of  the  splendid  attitude,  more  fertile  for  the  peace  of 
the  earth  and  for  its  progress  than  all  the  conven- 
tions that  European  nations  arranged  from  time  to 
time  in  order  to  suspend  their  quarrels.  The  Ameri- 
can President,  in  formulating  this  doctrine,  decreed 
peace  between  Europe  and  America,  which  seemed 
fatally  destined — the  former  to  assault  always  for 
conquest,  the  latter  to  fight  always  to  defend  its 
frontiers.  In  short,  the  Monroe  Doctrine  has  been 
the  veto  on  war  between  Europe  and  America;  in 
its  shadow  these  youthful  nations  have  grown  which 
to-day  are  sufficiently  strong  to  proclaim  the  same 
doctrine  as  the  emblem  on  their  shield.  And  the 
most  glorious  characteristic  of  this  device  is  that  it 
is  a  dictate  of  civilization  in  the  nature  of  a  magnifi- 
cent hymn  of  peace  which  can  be  chanted  at  the 
same  time  by  the  European  and  the  American  na- 
tions, because  it  avoided  that  permanent  contention 
that  would  have  subvened  if  the  system  of  conquest 
that  Europe  has  developed  in  regard  to  certain  na- 
tions had  been  implanted  here  in  the  territory  of 
South  America. 

Well,  Mr.  President,  he  who  is  coming  to  visit 
us  is  a  conspicuous  citizen  of  that  nation,  and 
brings,  as  it  is  said — and  I  believe  the  Foreign 
Office  already  is  informed  in  regard  thereto — a  lofty 
mission  of  peace  and  fraternity  that  is  of  interest  to 
our  progress.  We  ought  to  take  advantage  of  this 


132  ARGENTINA. 

opportunity  to  give  this  envoy  a  reception  worthy 
of  his  people  and  worthy  of  himself. 

I  have  privately  communicated  to  the  Minister 
for  Foreign  Affairs  the  idea  of  this  project  and  I 
have  had  the  pleasure  to  hear  from  his  lips  the  most 
complete  adherence  to  my  declaration  that  in  addi- 
tion to  a  bill  authorizing  the  expenses  there  was  the 
intention  of  preparing  for  Mr.  Root  a  manifestation 
that  emanated  spontaneously  from  the  Argentine 
Congress.  The  Minister  believes  that  this  demon- 
stration would  be  the  necessary  complement  of  the 
demonstration  that  the  National  Government  is 
preparing  for  this  envoy. 

The  historic  facts  that  I  have  recalled  and  that 
are  the  brief  synthesis  of  an  epoch  suffice  to  war- 
rant the  Argentine  people  associating  themselves 
with  the  initiative  of  the  Government  and  lending 
to  it  their  warm  interest.  I  am  doubly  pleased  to 
have  recalled  such  noble  remembrances  precisely  on 
the  Fourth  of  July,  the  day  of  the  anniversary  of 
the  independence  of  the  great  Republic  of  the 
North. 

I  believe  that  for  these  reasons,  gentlemen,  you 
will  lend  your  support  to  this  idea  and  fulfill  the 
purpose  for  which  it  is  presented. 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Doctor  J.  FigueroaAlcorta, 
President  of  Argentina,  at  a  banquet  given  by 
him  to  Mr.  Root  in  the  Government  House,  at 
Buenos  Aires,  August  14,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

MR.  ROOT,  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

The  American  Republics  are  at  this  moment 
tightening  their  traditional  bonds  at  a  congress  of 
fraternity  whose  importance  has  been  realized  by 
the  presence  of  our  illustrious  guest,  who  passes 
across  the  continent  as  the  herald  of  the  civilization 
of  a  great  people. 

The  world's  conscience  being  awakened  by  the 
progress  of  public  thought,  the  members  of  the 
family  of  nations  are  trying  to  draw  closer  together 
for  the  development  of  their  activities,  without  fet- 
ters or  obstacles,  under  the  olive  branch  of  peace 
and  the  guaranty  of  reciprocal  respect  for  their 
rights. 

International  conferences  are  one  of  the  happi- 
est manifestations  of  that  tendency,  because,  in 
bringing  into  contact  the  representatives  of  the  vari- 
ous States,  hindrances  and  prejudices  are  dissipated, 

133 


134  ARGENTINA. 

and  there  is  shown  to  exist  in  reality  in  the  collect- 
ive mind  a  common  aspiration  for  the  teachings  of 
liberty  and  justice. 

America  gives  a  recurring  example  of  such  con- 
gresses of  peace  and  law.  As  each  one  takes  place 
it  is  evident  that  the  attributes  of  sovereignty  of  the 
nations  which  constitute  it  are  displayed  more 
clearly ;  that  free  government  is  taking  deeper  root ; 
that  democratic  solidarity  is  more  apparent;  and 
that  force  is  giving  way  more  freely  to  reason  as 
the  fundamental  principle  of  society. 

The  Congress  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  has  that  lofty 
signification.  Its  material,  immediate  consequences 
will  be  more  or  less  important,  but  its  moral  result 
will  be  forever  of  transcendent  benefit — a  new  de- 
parture and  a  step  farther  in  the  development  of 
liberal  ideas  in  this  part  of  the  American  Continent. 

Mr.  Secretary  of  State,  your  country  has  taken 
gigantic  strides  in  the  march  of  progress  until  it 
occupies  a  position  in  the  vanguard.  It  has  set  a 
proud  and  shining  example  to  its  sister  nations. 

As  in  the  dawn  of  their  emancipation  it  recog- 
nized in  them  the  conqueror's  right  to  stand  among 
the  independent  states  of  the  earth,  so  likewise  it 
later  stimulated  the  high  aspiration  to  establish  a 
political  system  representing  the  popular  will,  now 
inscribed  in  indelible  characters  in  the  preambles  of 
American  legislation. 

The  Argentine  Republic,  after  rude  trials,  com- 
pleted its  constitutional  regime,  gathering  experi- 


ALCORTA.  135 

ence  and  learning  from  the  great  Republic  of  the 
North. 

The  general  lines  of  our  organization  followed 
those  of  the  Philadelphia  convention,  with  the  modi- 
fications imposed  by  circumstances,  by  the  irresistible 
force  of  tradition,  and  by  the  idiosyncracies  peculiar 
to  the  race.  The  forefathers  who  drafted  the  Argen- 
tine Constitution  were  inspired  in  their  work  by 
those  who,  to  the  admiration  of  the  world,  created 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Many  of  our  political  doctrines  are  derived  from 
the  writings  of  Hamilton,  Madison,  and  Jay;  the 
spirit  of  Marshall  and  Taney  are  seen  in  the  hear- 
ings of  our  tribunals ;  and  even  the  children  in  our 
schools,  when  they  learn  to  personify  the  republican 
virtues,  the  love  and  sacrifice  for  country,  respect 
for  the  rights  of  man,  and  the  prerogatives  of  the 
citizen,  lisp  the  name  of  George  Washington  with 
that  of  the  foremost  Argentines. 

Our  home  institutions  being  closely  united  and 
the  shadows  on  the  international  horizon  having  dis- 
appeared, the  Argentine  Republic  can  occupy  itself  in 
fraternizing  with  other  nations,  and,  like  the  United 
States,  she  aspires  to  make  the  ties  of  friendship 
sanctioned  by  history  and  by  the  ideal  philanthropy 
common  to  free  institutions  more  firm. 

Your  visit  will  have,  in  this  aspect,  great  results. 
We  have  invited  you  to  visit  our  territory  in  order 
to  link  the  two  countries  more  intimately,  and  your 
presence  here  indicates  that  this  noble  object  will 


136  ARGENTINA. 

be  realized,  inspired  as  it  is  by  the  convenience  of 
mutual  interests  and  the  sharing  of  noble  aims. 

You  are  a  messenger  of  the  ideals  of  brother- 
hood, and  as  such  you  are  welcome  to  the  Argen- 
tine Republic. 

I  salute  you,  in  the  name  of  the  Government 
and  the  people  who  have  received  you,  as  the  gen- 
uine representative  of  your  country,  with  that  sin- 
cere desire  for  friendship  which  is  loyally  rooted  in 
the  national  sentiment  of  Argentina. 

Gentlemen:  To  the  United  States  of  America; 
to  its  illustrious  President,  Theodore  Roosevelt ;  to 
the  Secretary  of  State  of  North  America,  Honor- 
able Elihu  Root! 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


YOUR  EXCELLENCY,  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

I  thank  you,  sir,  for  your  kind  welcome  and  for 
your  words  of  appreciation.  I  thank  you  for  my- 
self; I  thank  you  for  that  true  and  noble  gentle- 
man who  holds  in  the  United  States  of  America  the 
same  exalted  office  which  you  hold  here.  I  thank 
you  for  the  millions  of  citizens  in  the  United  States. 
When  your  kind  and  courteous  invitation  reached 
me,  I  was  in  doubt  whether  the  long  absence  from 
my  official  duties  would  be  justified,  but  I  consid- 
ered that  your  expression  of  friendship  imposed  on 
me  something  more  than  an  opportunity  for  per- 
sonal gratification ;  it  imposed  upon  me  a  duty.  It 
afforded  an  opportunity  to  say  something  to  the 
Government  and  the  people  of  Argentina  which 
would  justly  represent  the  sentiments  and  the  feel- 
ings of  the  people  of  the  United  States  towards  you 
all.  We  do  not  know  as  much  as  we  ought  in  the 
United  States ;  we  do  not  know  as  much  as  I  would 
like  to  feel  we  know,  but  we  have  a  traditional 
right  to  be  interested  in  Argentina.  I  thought  to- 
day, when  we  were  all  involved  in  the  common  mis- 
fortune, at  the  time  of  my  landing,  that,  after  all, 
the  United  States  and  Argentina  were  not  simply 

137 


138  ARGENTINA. 

fair-weather  friends.  We  inherit  the  right  to  be 
interested  in  Argentina,  and  to  be  proud  of  Ar- 
gentina. From  the  time  when  Richard  Rush  was 
fighting,  from  the  day  when  James  Monroe  threw 
down  the  gauntlet  of  a  weak  Republic,  as  we  were 
then,  in  defense  of  your  independence  and  rights— 
from  that  day  to  this  the  interests  and  the  friendship 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  the  Argentine 
Republic  have  never  changed.  We  rejoice  in  your 
prosperity ;  we  are  proud  of  your  achievements ;  we 
feel  that  you  are  justifying  our  faith  in  free  govern- 
ment, and  self-government ;  that  you  are  maintain- 
ing our  great  thesis  which  demands  the  possession, 
the  enjoyment,  and  the  control  of  the  earth  to  the 
people  who  inhabit  it.  We  have  followed  the  splen- 
did persistency  with  which  you  have  fought  against 
the  obstacles  that  stood  in  your  path,  not  without 
the  sympathy  that  has  come  from  similar  struggles 
at  home.  Like  you,  we  have  had  to  develop  the 
resources  of  a  vast  unpeopled  land;  like  you,  we 
have  had  to  fight  for  a  foothold  against  the  savage 
Indians;  like  you,  we  have  had  conflicts  of  races  for 
the  possession  of  territory ;  like  you,  we  have  had  to 
suffer  war ;  like  you,  we  have  conquered  nature ;  and 
like  you,  we  have  been  holding  out  our  hands  to 
the  people  of  all  the  world,  inviting  them  to  come 
and  add  to  our  developments  and  share  our  riches. 
We  live  under  the  same  Constitution  in  sub- 
stance; we  are  maintaining  and  attempting  to  perfect 
ourselves  in  the  application  of  the  same  principles 


ROOT.  139 

of  liberty  and  justice.  So  how  can  the  people  of 
the  United  States  help  feeling  a  friendship  and  sym- 
pathy for  the  people  of  Argentina  ?  I  deemed  it 
a  duty  to  come,  in  response  to  your  kind  invita- 
tion, to  say  this — to  say  that  there  is  not  a  cloud  in 
the  sky  of  good  understanding;  there  are  no  politi- 
cal questions  at  issue  between  Argentina  and  the 
United  States;  there  is  no  thought  of  grievance  by 
one  against  the  other;  there  are  no  old  grudges  or 
scores  to  settle.  We  can  rejoice  in  each  other's 
prosperity ;  we  can  aid  in  each  other's  development  ; 
we  can  be  proud  of  each  other's  successes  without 
hindrance  or  drawback.  And  for  the  development 
of  this  sentiment  in  both  countries  nothing  is  needed 
but  more  knowledge — that  we  shall  know  each  other 
better;  that  not  only  the  most  educated  and  thought- 
ful readers  of  our  two  countries  shall  become  familiar 
with  the  history  of  the  other,  but  that  the  entire 
body  of  the  people  shall  know  what  are  the  relations 
and  what  are  the  feelings  of  the  other  country.  I 
should  be  glad  if  the  people  of  Argentina — not 
merely  you,  Mr.  President ;  not  merely  my  friend 
the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs;  not  merely  the 
gentlemen  connected  with  the  Government,  but 
the  people  of  Argentina — might  know  the  feeling 
with  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  are 
their  friends,  as  I  know  the  people  of  Argentina 
are  friends  of  the  United  States.  I  have  come  to 
South  America  with  no  more  specific  object  than  I 
have  stated.  Our  traditional  policy  in  the  United 


140  ARGENTINA. 

States  of  America  is  to  make  no  alliances.  It  was 
inculcated  by  Washington ;  it  has  been  adhered  to 
by  his  successors  ever  since.  But,  Mr.  President, 
the  alliance  that  comes  from  unwritten,  unsealed 
instruments,  as  that  from  the  convention  signed  and 
ratified  with  all  formalities,  is  of  vital  consequence. 
We  make  no  alliances,  but  we  make  an  alliance  with 
all  our  sisters  in  sentiment  and  feeling,  in  the  pur- 
suit of  liberty  and  justice,  in  mutual  helpfulness, 
and  in  that  spirit  I  beg  to  return  to  you  and  to  your 
Government  and  the  people  of  this  splendid  and 
wonderful  country  my  sincere  thanks  for  the  wel- 
come you  have  given  me  and  my  country  in  my 
person. 


Speech  of  Mr.  Francis  B.  Pur  die  at  a  reception  by 
American  and  many  English  residents  held  at 
St.  George  s  Hall,  at  Biienos  Airesi  August  16, 
1906. 

HONORABLE  MR.  ROOT;  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 
Americans  resident  in  Buenos  Aires  and  in  the 
Argentine  Republic  are  sensible  of  the  honor  you 
have  done  them  by  accepting  their  invitation  for 
this  evening,  and  they  appreciate  most  highly  the 
courtesy  of  the  Argentine  Government,  whose  dis- 
tinguished guest  you  are,  in  allowing  them  this  cov- 
eted privilege.  As  Americans  we  welcome  you  to 
Buenos  Aires,  and  it  is  our  earnest  hope  that  your 
visit  here  will  result  in  more  closely  binding  the  ties 
of  friendship  which  unite  the  great  Republics  of  the 
North  and  of  the  South,  and  that  the  knowledge 
you  will  gain  of  this  great  country  and  of  its  mag- 
nificent resources  will  lead  to  more  familiar  inter- 
course and  to  that  good  understanding  which  should 
exist  between  nations  governed  by  like  principles, 
living  under  constitutions  framed  in  a  like  spirit, 
and  having  similar  national  aims.  This  gathering 
is  the  result  of  a  public  meeting  called  immediately 
after  it  was  learned  that  you  had  accepted  the  invi- 
tation of  the  Argentine  Government  to  visit  this 
city.  It  was  a  meeting  typically  American,  but 

141 


142  ARGENTINA. 

which  had  no  dividing  line  on  the  question  that  our 
Secretary  of  State  was  a  man  whom  we  would  all 
delight  to  honor.  The  executive  committee  of  the 
North  American  Society  of  the  River  Plate  was 
intrusted  with  the  arrangements.  We  believe  you 
should  know  something  of  that  society.  Organ- 
ized only  last  November,  it  embraces  practically 
every  American  in  Buenos  Aires  in  its  membership. 
For  its  age,  I  am  not  afraid  to  say  that  it  is  the  most 
flourishing  social  organization  that  has  ever  been 
established  in  this  country.  What  is  the  object  of 
the  society  ?  Not,  I  conceive,  such  as  will  arouse 
antagonism  or  jealousy  in  the  mind  of  any  man.  As 
set  forth  in  the  preamble  to  its  constitution  it  is : 
"To  keep  alive  the  love  of  country  and  foster  the 
spirit  of  patriotism,  *  *  *  and  for  such  other 
purposes  as  will  advance  the  interests  of  our  coun- 
try, encourage  and  maintain  friendly  relations  with 
the  country  of  our  residence,  and  assist  in  promoting 
closer  commercial  union  between  the  United  States 
and  the  countries  of  the  River  Plate." 

It  is  an  organization  framed  in  the  spirit  of  our 
beloved  Lincoln,  "with  malice  toward  none."  The 
society  has  no  political  aim  or  purpose.  It  plots 
for  nothing  but  the  well-being  of  all,  and  wishes 
for  nothing  less  than  the  prosperity  of  the  home 
land  and  the  land  of  our  residence.  Its  members 
are  imbued  with  that  spirit  which  is  the  characteris- 
tic American  attitude  toward  all  nations  and  peo- 
ples, the  spirit  of  "live  and  let  live."  Apart  from 


PURDIE.  143 

all  that  your  visit  may  mean  in  international  com- 
ity, it  means  much  to  us  here ;  for  you,  Mr.  Secre- 
tary, are  the  very  living  embodiment  of  that  spirit  to 
which  I  have  referred,  that  broad  Americanism 
which  does  not  seek  to  advantage  itself  by  intrud- 
ing on  the  rights  of  others.  Every  speech  made 
by  you  since  leaving  home  has  been  an  inspiration 
to  us,  and  has  strengthened  us  in  our  determination 
to  live  up  to  the  principles  upon  which  our  society  is 
founded.  But  it  is  not  alone  the  Americans  in 
Buenos  Aires  who  have  come  here  to-night  to  greet 
you  and  who  have  wished  to  do  you  honor.  Your 
kinsmen  from  across  the  sea  are  here  in  their  hun- 
dreds, for  when  it  became  known  that  such  a  recep- 
tion as  this  was  contemplated  the  requests  for  the 
privilege  of  joining  with  us  were  so  great  in  num- 
ber that  the  sincerity  of  the  English-speaking  peo- 
ple could  not  be  questioned,  and  the  American 
society  welcomed  the  opportunity  to  invite  as  its 
guests  as  many  of  the  representative  British  and 
English-speaking  residents  of  Buenos  Aires  as 
this  hall  would  hold,  and  there  is  represented  here 
every  important  public  interest  and  private  enter- 
prise in  this  Republic,  and  I  have  the  honor,  in  their 
name  as  well  as  in  the  name  of  your  countrymen, 
to  assure  you  that  you  are  in  the  house  of  your 
friends.  I  have  told  you,  Mr.  Root,  what  your 
countrymen  feel  about  your  coming  here;  I  have 
referred  to  the  cordial  sympathy  shown  by  the 
English-speaking  residents ;  and  it  is  with  feelings 


144  ARGENTINA. 

of  genuine  pleasure  that  I  now  make  reference  to 
the  attitude  of  the  Argentine  Government  and  the 
Argentine  people.  This  reference  will  not  alone  be 
my  personal  view,  but  it  is  the  expression  of  the 
feelings  of  representative  Americans  in  this  city 
which  has  been  voiced  at  every  meeting  we  have  held 
within  the  past  few  weeks.  The  Argentine  people 
are,  and  wish  to  remain,  the  friends  of  the  United 
States.  Our  committees  have  had  the  privilege  of 
holding  interviews  with  high  officials  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, with  various  committees  of  the  leading 
citizens,  and  we  have  been  convinced  beyond  doubt 
of  the  genuine  nature  of  the  reception  prepared  for 
you.  This  is  too  proud  a  nation  to  pretend  to 
what  it  does  not  feel,  and  the  history  of  Buenos 
Aires  will  convince  any  student  that  this  city  has 
never  been  afraid  to  speak  out,  to  applaud  or  con- 
demn as  its  judgment  dictated.  The  Government 
officials  have  been  sincerely  cordial,  and  they  have 
not  been  content  to  merely  express  their  wish  to 
give  us  every  friendly  help,  they  have,  apart  from 
their  own  magnificent  preparations,  given  the  Amer- 
icans here  material  assistance. 

The  world  owes  much  of  its  progress  to  opposing 
views,  and  the  healthiest  nations  have  the  strongest 
political  parties  taking  different  views  on  questions 
of  national  policy,  and  these  parties  reach  the  public 
by  means  of  the  newspapers.  The  Argentine  Re- 
public is  not  an  exception,  but  I  doubt  if  there  has 
ever  been  a  theme  upon  which  the  press  of  this 


PURDIE.  145 

country  has  been  so  united  as  that  honor  should  be 
shown  to  you.  I  speak  for  Americans  when  I  say 
that  in  the  Argentine  Republic  we  have  found  a 
home  where  absolute  freedom  is  ours — freedom  in 
every  walk  of  life ;  freedom  for  conscience ;  freedom 
to  live,  move,  and  have  our  being  as  God  and  our 
own  wills  may  lead  us.  There  are  Argentines  here 
to-night  who  are  not  one  whit  behind  us  in  their 
enthusiasm  for  you  and  for  all  that  you  represent, 
and  there  is  a  group  here  of  Argentines  who  have 
graduated  from  American  colleges  who  wish  to  say 
to  you  that  next  to  their  own  country  they  revere 
the  United  States  of  America.  You  now  know, 
Mr.  Root,  what  friends  you  have  before  you,  and 
we  all  bid  you  welcome,  thrice  welcome,  to  Buenos 
Aires. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


Mr.  Chairman,  my  countrymen,  my  country- 
women, my  friends  from  the  land  whence  my  fathers 
came,  I  need  not  say  that  I  am  glad  to  meet  you. 
No  one  far  away  from  his  own  land  needs  be  told 
that  the  looks,  faces,  soucd  of  voice,  of  one's  own 
countrymen  is  a  joy  to  the  wanderer  in  strange 
lands.  Yet  I  do  not  find  this  such  a  strange 
land.  I  find  here  so  many  things  to  remind  me 
of  home,  so  many  things  that  are  like  our  own 
country,  that  it  seems  a  little  like  coming  home. 
Such  is  the  similarity  in  conditions,  in  spirit,  in  pur- 
pose ;  such  is  the  impress  of  the  same  institutions 
and  the  same  principles,  that  I  can  not  feel  alto- 
gether a  stranger,  and  when  I  meet  you  here  at 
home  I  feel  almost  the  warmth  of  my  own  fireside. 
I  am  glad  to  meet  you  because  I  think  that  perhaps 
to  many  of  you  who  have  been  long  in  this  distant 
land  I  may  bring  pleasant  memories  of  cities  and 
farms  and  homes  left  behind  many  a  year  ago.  But 
I  hope  that  the  new  home  you  have  found,  the  new 
duties  you  have  taken  up,  have  made  you  happy, 
prosperous,  useful,  full  of  ambitions,  activities,  and 
the  satisfactions  of  life.  There  have  been  great 
changes  in  the  United  States  of  America — of  North 
146 


ROOT.  147 

America,  perhaps  I  must  call  it — since  most  of  you 
left  your  old  homes.  When  you,  Mr.  President, 
left  we  were  a  debtor  nation ;  we  were  borrowing 
money  from  Europe  to  develop  our  own  resources, 
to  build  up  our  own  country.  Most  of  the  money 
was  coming  from  our  English  friends.  That  capital 
built  up  our  railways  to  develop  and  make  possi- 
ble the  wonderful  development  that  has  made  the 
United  States  what  it  is.  We  had  no  capital,  no 
time,  no  energy,  to  devote  to  anything  but  the  task 
that  lay  before  us  to  conquer  our  West  and  to  de- 
velop our  empty  lands.  In  that  distant  day,  when 
Henry  Clay  and  John  Quincy  Adams  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  infant  Republics  of  South  America,  we 
could  have  no  relations  with  them  but  those  of 
political  sympathy,  because  we  were  too  concen- 
trated in  the  work  that  lay  before  us  at  home. 
Twenty  years  ago,  when  that  far-seeing  and  san- 
guine statesman  Mr.  Elaine  inaugurated  his  South 
American  policy  and  brought  about  the  first  Ameri- 
can Conference  at  Washington,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics,  we  were 
still  a  debtor  nation,  with  no  surplus  capital,  and 
engrossed  in  doing  the  work  at  home.  It  was  still 
impossible  for  us  to  have  any  relations  with  South 
America,  except  those  of  political  sympathy. 

But  since  Mr.  Blaine  times  have  changed.  We 
have  paid  our  debts;  we  have  become  a  creditor 
rather  than  a  debtor  nation.  We  have  for  the  first 
time  within  the  last  ten  years  begun  to  accumulate 


148  ARGENTINA. 

surplus  capital,  and  it  has  accumulated  with  a  won- 
derful rapidity — a  surplus  capital  to  go  out  and 
establish  new  relations  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 
We  now  are  beginning  to  be  in  a  position  where  we 
can  take  the  same  relations  towards  other  countries 
that  England  took  towards  us.  We  have  paid  our 
debts  to  England ;  the  use  of  her  capital  to  develop 
the  United  States  has  resulted  in  great  advantage  to 
both  of  us,  and  with  the  payment  of  the  debt  there 
has  been  left  a  warm  and,  I  believe,  enduring  friend- 
ship between  EnglancJ^and  the  United  States.  I 
should  like  to  see  the  same  thing  between  the  United 
States  and  South  America.  I  should  like  to  see 
the  great  surplus  capital  which  we  are  accumulating 
in  the  United  States  of  North  America  turn  south- 
wards— to  see  it  used  to  develop  the  vast  resources 
of  this  country,  with  mutual  advantage  to  both,  so 
that  when  the  time  comes  in  the  future,  as  it  will 
come,  when  the  people  of  Argentina,  with  their  re- 
sources developed,  with  their  population  increased, 
have  accumulated  all  the  capital  they  need  and  paid 
their  debts,  we  shall  have  had  our  share  both  in 
their  development  and  in  their  prosperity,  and  an 
enduring  friendship  may  be  left  between  us. 

Now,  it  has  seemed  to  me,  sir,  that  possibly  the 
opportunity  afforded  by  the  kind  and  courteous 
invitation  of  the  Argentine  Government  to  visit  this 
country  might  enable  me  to  do  something  to  this 
end,  just  at  this  juncture  when  a  change  in  the  atti- 
tude of  the  United  States  toward  the  rest  of  the  world 


ROOT.  149 

is  taking  place,  when  the  change  from  the  debtor  to 
the  creditor  nation,  is  made ;  from  the  borrower  of 
money  to  develop  resources,  to  a  country  with  sur- 
plus capital  to  send  out  to  the  world ;  it  seemed  to 
me  possible  that  I  might  in  this  visit  help  to  estab- 
lish the  relations  which  I  should  like  to  see  existing. 
I  should  like  to  be  able  to  qualify  myself  to  say  in 
the  most  public  way  that  this  is  a  land  to  which  the 
poor  of  all  the  world,  who  have  enterprise  with- 
out money,  can  come  and  find  homes  and  prosper- 
ity, so  that  by  the  thousands,  by  the  millions,  they 
may  come  from  the  Old  World  and  build  up  Ar- 
gentina as  they  have  built  up  the  United  States. 
I  feel  able  to  say  that  this  is  a  shore  to  which  the 
emigrants  from  the  Old  World  may  come  with  a 
certainty  of  finding  homes,  occupations,  and  oppor- 
tunities for  prosperity ;  that  it  is  a  country  to  which 
the  capital  of  the  United  States  may  come  with  the 
certainty  that  it  will  be  secure,  will  be  protected, 
and  will  find  profitable  employment.  I  look  for- 
ward to  the  time  when  the  wonderful  development 
that  is  going  on  now  here — not  confined  alone  to 
this  country,  but  progressing  here  with  an  amazing 
rapidity — will  be  as  great  a  wonder  to  the  world 
as  the  advance  which  has  taken  the  United  States 
of  North  America  from  the  feeble  fringe  of  colo- 
nists along  the  Atlantic  shore  to  a  great  nation  of 
eighty  millions,  stretching  from  ocean  to  ocean. 
Argentina  will  take  some  of  our  markets  from  us, 
but  what  are  they?  They  will  be  markets  she  is 


150  ARGENTINA. 

entitled  to,  and  with  her  prosperity,  and  with  the 
right  understanding  and  relations  between  the  two 
countries,  our  commercial  relations  with  her  will 
more  than  take  the  place  of  the  markets  she  takes 
away  from  us.  We  have  nothing  to  fear  in  the 
prosperity  of  Argentina.  We  have  no  cause  but 
for  rejoicing  in  her  prosperity,  no  cause  but  to  aid 
her  by  every  way  in  our  power  in  her  onward  prog- 
ress, and  to  do  that  I  believe  to  be  the  sincere  desire 
of  the  whole  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  a  heavy  responsibility  which 
rests  upon  the  citizen  of  our  country  who  lives  in  a 
foreign  land.  We  can  misbehave  at  home  and  it 
makes  little  difference,  but  every  American  citizen 
in  a  foreign  land,  every  American  citizen  in  the 
Argentine  Republic,  is  the  representative  of  his 
country.  He  needs  no  commission  ;  no  power  can 
prevent  his  holding  a  commission  to  represent  be- 
fore all  the  people  of  Argentina  the  character  of 
his  own  countrymen.  You  represent  to  the  people 
of  Argentina  our  beloved  land.  What  you  are  they 
will  believe  us  to  be.  By  your  character  and  con- 
duct their  estimate  of  us  rises,  and  it  is  with  the 
greatest  pleasure  that  I  find  here  among  this  people 
whom  I  respect  so  highly,  whose  good  opinion  for 
my  country  I  so  greatly  desire,  the  body  of  Ameri- 
cans, the  body  of  my  countrymen,  so  worthy,  so 
estimable,  so  high  in  reputation,  so  well  fitted  to 
maintain  the  standard  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  high,  pure,  unsullied,  worthy  of  all  honor. 


Speech  of  Doctor  Luis  M.  Drago,  President  of  the 
Committee  of  Reception,  at  the  banquet  given  by 
the  Committee  to  Mr.  Root  at  the  Opera  House 
in  Buenos  Aires,  August  17,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.*] 

HONORABLE  SIR  ;  GENTLEMEN  : 

The  large  gathering  here  assembled,  representa- 
tive of  all  that  Buenos  Aires  has  of  the  most  notable 
in  science,  letters,  industry,  and  commerce,  has  con- 
ferred on  me  the  signal  honor  of  my  being  designated 
to  offer  this  banquet  to  the  eminent  Minister  of 
one  of  the  greatest  nations  of  the  earth,  a  nation 
linked  to  us  from  the  very  beginning  by  many  and 
very  real  sentiments  of  moral  and  political  solidarity. 
This  country  has  not  forgotten  that  in  the  trying 
times  of  the  colonial  emancipation  our  fathers  could 
rely  on  the  sympathy  and  the  warm  and  disinter- 
ested adhesion  of  the  American  people,  our  prede- 
cessors and  our  guides  in  the  paths  of  liberty.  The 
thrilling  utterances  of  Henry  Clay  defending  our 
cause  when  everything  appeared  to  threaten  our 
revolution  have  never  been  surpassed  in  their  noble 
eloquence,  and  it  was  due  to  the  generosity  and 

*  Furnished  by  Mr.  Drago. 


152  ARGENTINA. 

foresight  of  their  great  statesmen  that  the  United 
State  were  the  first  to  receive  us  with  open  arms  as 
their  equals  in  the  community  of  sovereign  nations. 

The  spiritual  affinity  thus  happily  established  has 
gone  on  strengthening  itself  almost  imperceptibly 
ever  since  by  the  reproduction  of  institutions  and 
legal  customs. 

Our  charter  was  inspired  by  the  American  Con- 
stitution and  acts  through  the  operation  of  similar 
laws.  The  great  examples  of  the  Union  are  also 
our  examples,  and  being  sincere  lovers  of  liberty  we 
rejoice  in  the  triumphs  (which  in  a  certain  sense 
we  consider  our  own)  of  the  greatest  of  democratic 
nations. 

George  Washington  is,  for  us,  of  the  great  fig- 
ures of  history,  the  tutelar  personality,  the  supreme 
model,  a  prototype  of  abnegation,  honor,  and  wis- 
dom ;  and  there  is  an  important  region  in  the  Prov- 
ince of  Buenos  Aires  bearing  the  name  of  Lincoln, 
as  a  homage  to  the  austere  patriotism  of  the  states- 
man and  martyr.  The  names  of  Jefferson,  Madison, 
and  Quincy  Adams  are  with  us  household  words, 
and  in  our  parliamentary  debates  and  popular  assem- 
blies mention  is  frequently  made  of  the  statesmen, 
the  orators,  and  the  judges  of  the  great  sister 
Republic. 

There  thus  exists,  honorable  sir,  a  long-estab- 
lished friendship,  an  intercommunion  of  thought 
and  purpose  which  draws  peoples  together  more 
closely,  intimately,  and  indissolubly  than  can  be 


DRAGO.  153 

accomplished  by  the  formulae — often  barren — of  the 
foreign  offices. 

And  the  moment  is  certainly  propitious  for 
drawing  closer  the  bonds  of  international  amity 
which  your  excellency's  visit  puts  in  relief  and  which 
has  found  such  eloquent  expression  in  the  Pan- 
American  Congress  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  Enlight- 
ened patriotism  has  understood  at  last  that  on  this 
continent,  with  its  immense  riches  and  vast  unex- 
plored extensions,  power  and  wealth  are  not  to  be 
looked  for  in  conquest  and  displacements,  but  in 
collaboration  and  solidarity,  which  will  people  the 
wilderness  and  give  the  soil  to  the  plow.  It  has 
understood,  moreover,  that  America,  by  reason  of 
the  nationalities  of  which  it  is  composed,  of  the 
nature  of  the  representative  institutions  which  they 
have  adopted,  by  the  very  character  of  their  people, 
separated  as  they  have  been  from  the  conflicts  and 
complications  of  European  governments,  and  even 
by  the  gravitation  of  peculiar  circumstances  and 
events,  has  been  constituted  a  separate  political 
factor,  a  new  and  vast  theater  for  the  development 
of  the  human  race,  which  will  serve  as  a  counter- 
poise to  the  great  civilizations  of  the  other  hemi- 
sphere, and  so  maintain  the  equilibrium  of  the  world. 

It  is  consequently  our  sacred  duty  to  preserve 
the  integrity  of  America,  material  and  moral,  against 
the  menaces  and  artifices,  very  real  and  effective,  that 
unfortunately  surround  it.  It  is  not  long  since  one 
of  the  most  eminent  of  living  jurisconsults  of  Great 


154  ARGENTINA. 

Britain  denounced  the  possibility  of  the  danger. 
"The  enemies  of  light  and  freedom,"  he  said,  "are 
neither  dead  nor  sleeping ;  they  are  vigilant,  active, 
militant,  and  astute."  And  it  was  in  obedience  to 
that  sentiment  of  common  defense  that  in  a  critical 
moment  the  Argentine  Republic  proclaimed  the  im- 
propriety of  the  forcible  collection  of  public  debts 
by  European  nations,  not  as  an  abstract  principle  of 
academic  value  or  as  a  legal  rule  of  universal  appli- 
cation outside  of  this  continent  (which  it  is  not  in- 
cumbent on  us  to  maintain),  but  as  a  principle  of 
American  diplomacy  which,  whilst  being  founded  on 
equity  and  justice,  has  for  its  exclusive  object  to 
spare  the  peoples  of  this  continent  the  calamities  of 
conquest  disguised  under  the  mask  of  financial  inter- 
ventions, in  the  same  way  as  the  traditional  policy  of 
the  United  States,  without  accentuating  superiority 
or  seeking  preponderance,  condemned  the  oppres- 
sion of  the  nations  of  this  part  of  the  world  and  the 
control  of  their  destinies  by  the  great  powers  of 
Europe.  The  dreams  and  Utopias  of  to-day  are  the 
facts  and  commonplaces  of  to-morrow,  and  the  prin- 
ciple proclaimed  must  sooner  or  later  prevail. 

The  gratitude  we  owe  to  the  nations  of  Europe 
is  indeed  very  great,  and  much  still  we  have  to  learn 
from  them.  We  are  the  admirers  of  their  secular 
institutions ;  more  than  once  we  have  been  moved 
by  their  great  ideals,  and  under  no  circumstances 
whatsoever  should  we  like  to  severer  to  weaken  even 
the  links  of  a  long-established  friendship.  But  we 


DRAGO.  155 

want,  at  the  same  time,  and  it  is  only  just  and  fair, 
that  the  genius  and  tendency  of  our  democratic 
communities  be  respected.  They  are  advancing 
slowly,  it  is  true ;  struggling  at  times  and  occasion- 
ally making  a  pause,  but  none  the  less  strong  and 
progressive  for  all  that,  and  already  showing  the 
unequivocal  signs  of  success  in  what  may  be  called 
the  most  considerable  trial  mankind  has  ever  made 
of  the  republican  system  of  government. 

In  the  meantime,  to  reach  their  ultimate  great- 
ness and  have  an  influence  in  the  destinies  of  the 
world,  these  nations  only  require  to  come  together 
and  have  a  better  knowledge  of  each  other,  to  break 
up  the  old  colonial  isolation,  and  realize  the  con- 
traction of  America,  as  what  is  called  the  contraction 
of  the  world  has  always  been  effected  by  the  anni- 
hilation of  distance  through  railways,  telegraphs,  and 
the  thousand-and-one  means  of  communication  and 
interchange  at  the  disposal  of  modern  civilization. 

The  increase  of  commerce  and  the  public  fortune 
will  be  brought  about  in  this  way,  but  such  results 
as  concern  only  material  prosperity  will  appear  un- 
important when  compared  with  the  blessings  of  a 
higher  order  which  are  sure  to  follow,  when,  realiz- 
ing the  inner  meaning  of  things,  and  stimulated  by 
spiritual  communion,  these  peoples  meet  each  other 
as  rivals  only  in  the  sciences  and  arts,  in  literature 
and  government,  and  most  of  all  in  the  practice  of 
virtues,  which  are  the  best  ornament  of  the  state  and 
the  foundation  stone  of  all  enduring  grandeur  of  the 
human  race. 


156  ARGENTINA. 

Gentlemen : 

To  the  United  States,  the  noblest  and  the  great- 
est of  democratic  nations ! 

To  Mr.  Roosevelt,  the  President  of  transcen- 
dental initiative  and  strenuous  life ! 

To  his  illustrious  Minister,  our  guest,  the  high- 
est and  most  eloquent  representative  of  American 
solidarity,  to  whom  I  have  not  words  sufficiently 
expressive  to  convey  all  the  pleasure  we  feel  in  re- 
ceiving him  and  how  we  honor  ourselves  by  having 
him  in  our  midst. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

I  thank  you  for  the  kind  and  friendly  words 
you  have  uttered.  I  thank  you,  and  all  of  you,  for 
your  cordiality  and  bounteous  hospitality.  As  I 
am  soon  to  leave  this  city,  where  I  and  my  family 
have  been  welcomed  so  warmly  and  have  been 
made  so  happy,  let  me  take  this  opportunity  to  re- 
turn to  you  and  to  the  Government  and  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Buenos  Aires  our  most  sincere  and  heartfelt 
thanks  for  all  your  kindness  and  goodness  to  us.  We 
do  appreciate  it  most  deeply,  and  we  shall  never  for- 
get it,  shall  never  forget  you — your  friendly  faces, 
your  kind  greetings,  your  beautiful  homes,  your  noble 
spirit,  and  all  that  makes  up  the  great  and  splendid 
city  of  Buenos  Aires.  It  is  with  special  pleasure, 
Mr.  Chairman,  that  I  have  listened  to  that  part  of 
your  speech  which  relates  to  the  political  philosophy 
of  our  times,  and  especially  to  the  political  philos- 
ophy most  interesting  to  America.  Upon  the  two 
subjects  of  special  international  interest  to  which 
you  have  alluded,  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  declare 
myself  in  hearty  and  unreserved  sympathy  with  you. 
The  United  States  of  America  has  never  deemed  it 


158  ARGENTINA. 

to  be  suitable  that  she  should  use  her  Army  and 
Navy  for  the  collection  of  ordinary  contract  debts 
of  foreign  governments  to  her  citizens.  For  more 
than  a  century  the  State  Department,  the  Depart- 
ment of  Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  has  refused  to  take  such  action,  and 
that  has  become  the  settled  policy  of  our  country. 
We  deem  it  to  be  inconsistent  with  that  respect  for 
the  sovereignty  of  weaker  powers  which  is  essential 
to  their  protection  against  the  aggression  of  the 
strong.  We  deem  the  use  of  force  for  the  collec- 
tion of  ordinary  contract  debts  to  be  an  invitation 
to  abuses  in  their  necessary  results  far  worse,  far 
more  baleful  to  humanity  than  that  the  debts  con- 
tracted by  any  nation  should  go  unpaid.  We 
consider  that  the  use  of  the  army  and  navy  of  a 
great  power  to  compel  a  weaker  power  to  answer 
to  a  contract  with  a  private  individual  is  both  an 
invitation  to  speculation  upon  the  necessities  of 
weak  and  struggling  countries  and  an  infringement 
upon  the  sovereignty  of  those  countries,  and  we 
are  now,  as  we  always  have  been,  opposed  to  it; 
and  we  believe  that,  perhaps  not  to-day  nor  to- 
morrow, but  through  the  slow  and  certain  process 
of  the  future,  the  world  will  come  to  the  same 
opinion.  It  is  with  special  gratification  that  I 
have  heard  from  your  lips  so  just  an  estimate  of  the 
character  of  that  traditional  policy  of  the  United 
States  which  bears  the  name  of  President  Monroe. 
When  you  say  that  it  was  "without  accentuating 


ROOT.  159 

superiority  or  seeking  preponderance"  that  Mon- 
roe's declaration  condemned  the  oppression  of  the 
nations  of  this  part  of  the  world  and  the  control  of 
their  destinies  by  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  you 
speak  the  exact  historical  truth.  You  do  but  sim- 
ple justice  to  the  purposes  and  the  sentiments  of 
Monroe  and  his  compatriots  and  to  the  country 
of  Monroe  at  every  hour  from  that  time  to  this. 

I  congratulate  you  upon  the  wonderful  opportu- 
nity that  lies  before  you.  Happier  than  those  of  us 
who  were  obliged  in  earlier  days  to  conquer  the 
wilderness,  you  men  of  Argentina  have  at  your 
hands  the  great,  new  forces  for  your  use.  Changes 
have  come  of  recent  years  in  the  world  which  affect 
the  working  out  of  your  problem.  One  is  that 
through  the  comparative  infrequency  of  war,  of  pes- 
tilence, of  famine,  the  increased  sanitation  of  the 
world,  the  decrease  of  infant  mortality  by  reason 
of  better  sanitation,  the  population  of  the  world 
is  increasing.  Those  causes  which  reduced  popula- 
tion are  being  removed  and  the  pressure  of  popu- 
lation is  sending  out  wave  after  wave  of  men  for  the 
peopling  of  the  vacant  lands  of  the  earth.  The 
other  is  that  through  the  wonderful  activity  of  in- 
vention and  discovery  and  organizing  capacity  dur- 
ing our  lifetime  the  power  of  mankind  to  produce 
wealth  has  been  immensely  increased.  One  man 
to-day,  with  machinery,  with  steam,  with  electricity, 
with  all  the  myriads  of  appliances  that  invention 
and  discovery  have  created,  can  produce  more 


l6o  ARGENTINA. 

wealth,  more  of  the  things  that  mankind  desires, 
than  twenty  men  could  have  produced  years  ago, 
and  the  result  is  that  vast  accumulations  of  capital 
are  massing  in  the  world,  ready  to  be  poured  out  for 
the  building  up  of  the  vacant  places  of  the  earth. 
For  the  utilization  of  these  two  great  forces,  men 
and  money,  you  in  Argentina  have  the  opportunity 
in  your  vast  fields  of  incalculable  potential  wealth, 
and  you  have  the  formative  power  in  the  spirit  and 
the  brain  of  your  people. 

I  went  to-day  to  one  of  your  great  flour  mills,  to 
one  of  your  great  refrigerating  plants.  I  viewed 
the  myriad  industries  that  surround  the  harbor,  the 
forests  of  masts,  the  thronged  steamers.  I  was  inter- 
ested and  amazed.  It  far  exceeded  my  imagination 
and  suggested  an  analogy  to  an  incident  in  my  past 
life.  It  was  my  fortune  in  the  year  when  the  war 
broke  out  between  Prussia  and  France  to  be  travel- 
ing in  Germany.  Immediately  upon  the  announce- 
ment of  the  war,  maps  of  the  seat  of  war  were  printed 
and  posted  in  every  shop  window.  The  maps  were 
maps  of  Germany,  with  a  little  stretch  of  France. 
Within  a  fortnight  the  armies  had  marched  off  the 
map.  It  seems  to  be  so  with  Argentina.  I  have 
read  books  about  Argentina.  I  have  read  maga- 
zine and  newspaper  articles,  but  within  the  last  five 
years  you  have  marched  off  the  map.  The  books 
and  magazines  are  all  out  of  date.  What  you  have 
done  since  they  were  written  is  much  more  than  had 
been  done  before.  They  are  no  guide  to  the  coun- 


ROOT.  l6l 

try.  Nevertheless,  with  all  your  vast,  material  ac- 
tivity it  seems  to  me  that  the  most  wonderful  and 
interesting  thing  to  be  found  here  is  the  laboratory 
of  life,  where  you  are  mixing  the  elements  of  the 
future  race.  Argentine,  English,  German,  Italian, 
French,  and  Spanish,  and  American  are  all  being 
welded  together  to  make  the  new  type.  It  was  the 
greatest  satisfaction  to  me  to  go  into  the  school  and 
see  that  first  and  greatest  agency,  the  children  of 
all  races  in  the  first  and  most  impressionable  period 
of  life,  being  brought  together  and  acting  and  react- 
ing on  each  other,  and  all  tending  towards  the  new 
type,  which  will  embody  the  characteristics  of  all ; 
and  to  know  that  the  system  of  schools  in  which 
this  is  being  done  was,  by  the  wisdom  of  your  great 
President  Sarmiento,  brought  from  my  own  coun- 
try through  his  friendship  with  the  great  leader 
of  education  in  the  United  States  of  America — 
Horace  Mann. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  should  have  been  glad  to  see 
all  these  wonderful  things  as  an  inconspicuous  ob- 
server. It  is  quite  foreign  to  my  habits  and  to  my 
nature  to  move  through  applauding  throngs  accom- 
panied by  guards  of  honor;  yet  perhaps  it  is  well 
that  the  idea  which  I  represent  should  be  applauded 
by  crowds  and  accompanied  by  guards  of  honor. 
The  pomp  and  circumstance  of  war  attract  the 
fancy  of  the  multitude;  the  armored  knight  moves 
across  the  page  of  romance  and  of  poetry  and  kin- 
dles the  imagination  of  youth ;  the  shouts  of  the 


1 62  ARGENTINA. 

crowd,  the  smiles  of  beauty,  the  admiration  of  youth, 
the  gratitude  of  nations,  the  plaudits  of  mankind, 
follow  the  hero  about  whom  the  glamor  of  military 
glory  dims  the  eye  to  the  destruction  and  death  and 
human  misery  that  follow  the  path  of  war.  Per- 
haps it  is  well  that  sometimes  there  shall  go  to  the 
herdsman  on  his  lonely  ranch,  to  the  husbandman  in 
his  field,  to  the  clerk  in  the  countinghouse  and  the 
shop,  to  the  student  at  his  books,  to  the  boy  in  the 
street,  the  idea  that  there  is  honor  to  be  paid  to  those 
qualities  of  mankind  that  rest  upon  justice,  upon 
mercy,  upon  consideration  for  the  rights  of  others, 
upon  humanity,  upon  the  patient  and  kindly  spirit, 
upon  all  those  exercises  of  the  human  heart  that 
lead  to  happy  homes,  to  prosperity,  to  learning,  to 
art,  to  religion,  to  the  things  that  dignify  life  and 
ennoble  it  and  give  it  its  charm  and  grace. 

We  honor  Washington  as  the  leader  of  his 
country's  forces  in  the  War  of  Independence ;  but 
that  supreme  patience  which  enabled  him  to  keep 
the  warring  elements  of  his  people  at  peace  is  a 
higher  claim  to  the  reverence  of  mankind  than  his 
superb  military  strategy.  San  Martin  was  great  in 
his  military  achievements;  his  Napoleonic  march 
across  the  Andes  is  entitled  to  be  preserved  in  the 
history  of  military  affairs  so  long  as  history  is  written ; 
but  the  almost  superhuman  self-abnegation  in  which 
he  laid  aside  power  and  greatness  that  peace  might 
give  its  strength  to  his  people  was  greater  than  his 
military  achievements.  The  triumphant  march  of 


ROOT.  163 

the  conquering  hero  is  admirable  and  to  be  greeted 
with  huzzas,  but  the  conquering  march  of  an  idea 
which  makes  for  humanity  is  more  admirable  and 
more  to  be  applauded.  This  is  not  theory;  it  is 
practical.  It  has  to  do  with  our  affairs  to-day,  for 
we  are  now  in  an  age  of  the  world  when  not  gover- 
nors, not  presidents,  not  congresses,  but  the  people 
determine  the  issues  of  peace  or  war,  of  controversy 
or  of  quiet.  I  am  an  advocate  of  arbitration;  I  am 
an  advocate  of  mediation ;  of  all  the  measures  that 
tend  towards  bringing  reasonable  and  cool  judgment 
to  take  the  place  of  war ;  but  let  us  never  forget  that 
arbitration  and  mediation — all  measures  of  that  de- 
scription— are  but  the  treatment  of  the  symptoms 
and  not  the  treatment  of  the  cause  of  disease,  and 
that  the  real  cure  for  war  is  to  get  into  the  hearts  of 
the  people  and  lead  them  to  a  just  sense  of  their 
rights  and  other  people's  rights,  lead  them  to  love 
peace  and  to  hate  war,  lead  them  to  hold  up  the 
hands  of  their  governments  in  the  friendly  com- 
merce of  diplomacy,  rather  than  to  urge  them  on  to 
strife ;  arid  let  there  go  to  herdsman  and  the  hus- 
bandman and  the  merchant  and  the  student  and  the 
boy  in  the  street,  every  influence  which  can  tend 
towards  that  sweet  reasonableness,  that  kindly  senti- 
ment, that  breadth  of  feeling  for  humanity,  that 
consideration  for  the  rights  of  others  which  lie  at 
the  basis  of  the  peace  of  the  world. 


Speeches  in  Chile. 


165 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  German  Riesco,  Presi- 
dent of  Chile,  to  Mr.  Root  upon  his  arrival  at 
the  Government  House,  in  Santiago,  September 
i,  1906. 

[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

MR.  SECRETARY  OF  STATE: 

I  greet  you  and  welcome  you  in  the  name  of 
the  people  and  of  the  Government  of  Chile,  who 
receive  your  visit  with  the  liveliest  satisfaction. 

Your  attendance  at  the  congress  of  fraternity 
which  the  American  Republics  have  just  held ;  your 
visit  to  the  neighboring  countries,  which  we  have 
followed  with  the  geatest  interest ;  and  your  pres- 
ence amongst  us,  after  the  invitation  which  we  had 
the  honor  of  offering  you,  are  eloquent  testimony 
of  the  high-minded  intentions,  which  will  necessa- 
rily produce  much  good  for  the  progress  and  the 
development  of  America. 

In  these  moments  we  feel  a  most  profound  grati- 
tude towards  your  country,  towards  your  worthy 
President,  and  towards  you,  for  the  friendship  and 
sympathy  with  which  you  have  joined  in  the  sorrow 
of  Chile  because  of  the  disaster  which  has  wounded 
Valparaiso  and  other  cities  of  the  Republic. 

I  wish  that  your  stay  in  this  country  may  be 
agreeable  to  you  and  your  distinguished  family. 

167 


Reply  of  Mr,  Root. 


I  thank  you,  Mr.  President,  for  your  kind  wel- 
come and  for  your  kind  expressions,  and  I  thank 
you  for  the  courteous  invitation  which  led  to  this 
visit  on  my  part.  After  the  great  calamity  which 
has  befallen  your  country,  I  should  have  feared  to 
intrude  upon  the  mourning  which  is  in  so  many 
Chilean  homes,  but  I  did  not  feel  that  I  could  pass 
by  without  calling  upon  you — upon  the  represent- 
ative of  the  Chilean  people — to  express  in  person 
the  deep  sympathy  and  sorrow  which  I,  and  all  my 
people,  whom  I  represent,  feel  for  your  country 
and  for  the  stricken  and  bereaved  ones,  and  the 
earnest  hope  we  have  for  the  prompt  and  cheerful 
recovery  of  spirit  and  of  confidence  and  of  prosperity 
after  the  great  misfortune.  We  know  that  the  spirit 
and  the  strength  of  the  people  of  Chile  is  adequate 
for  the  recovery,  even  from  so  great  a  disaster.  No 
one  in  the  world,  Mr.  President,  can  feel  more 
deeply  the  misfortune  that  you  have  suffered  than 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  because  you  know 
that  in  our  own  country  we  have  recently  experi- 
enced just  such  a  calamity.  I  am  sure  that  nowhere 
in  the  world  will  you  find  so  keen  a  sense  of  sympa- 
thy as  is  there  and  as  I  now  express.  It  may  some- 

168 


ROOT.  169 

times  happen  that  in  adversity  stronger  friendships 
arise  than  in  prosperity,  and  I  hope  that  although  I 
come  to  bring  to  you  an  expression  of  friendship  of 
the  United  States  of  America  for  the  Republic 
of  Chile  now  while  the  cloud  rests  upon  you,  the 
effect  of  the  exchange  of  kind  words  and  kinder 
feelings  in  this  time  may  be  greater,  more  perma- 
nent, and  more  lasting  than  they  could  have  been 
when  all  were  prosperous  and  happy. 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Doctor  Antonio  Huneeus, 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  at  the  banquet 
given  by  the  President  of  Chile  to  Mr.  Root 
and  his  family,  at  the  Moneda,  September  2, 
1906. 

[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

MOST  EXCELLENT  MR.  PRESIDENT;  LADIES;  MOST 

EXCELLENT  MR.  ROOT: 

I  extend  to  you  the  welcome  of  the  people  and 
of  the  Government.  Heartily  do  I  say  to  you,  in 
the  name  of  all  Chileans :  Be  welcome. 

We  were  preparing  to  entertain  you  in  magnifi- 
cent style,  but  it  was  the  will  of  Providence  to  visit 
us  with  a  bitter  trial,  so  we  are  now  receiving  you 
in  a  modest  manner. 

Come  and  see,  sir,  what  we  have  suffered.  Mor- 
ally, we  have  suffered  much ;  for  several  thousands  of 
our  brothers  perished  in  the  catastrophe  of  August 
1 6.  Materially  speaking,  we  lose  the  greater  part 
of  our  principal  port  and  of  several  cities  of  minor 
importance,  together  with  the  profits  which  cease  in 
consequence.  Behold,  now,  sir,  what  remains  to 
us  and  how  we  are  rising !  Our  productive  forces 
are  alive  and  sound ;  agriculture,  mining,  and  manu- 
facturing have  scarcely  suffered,  and  our  saltpeter 
treasures  continue  to  exist. 

170 


HUNEEUS.  171 

Public  order  remained  undisturbed;  generally 
speaking,  the  reign  of  the  law  was  maintained ;  the 
authorities  fulfilled  their  duty ;  and  the  navy,  glo- 
rious guardian  of  half  our  territory,  which  is  the 
ocean,  was  saved  intact.  Therefore,  all  we  sons  of 
Chile  are  of  cheerful  heart. 

The  virility  of  a  country  is  worth  more  than  the 
splendor  of  its  monuments.  It  does  not  humiliate 
us,  therefore,  to  have  you  see  houses  and  towns  de- 
stroyed, for  it  was  not  a  civil  war  or  a  foreign  enemy 
which  razed  them  to  the  ground,  but  a  higher  hand. 
It  is  rather  a  source  of  pride  to  us  to  have  you  wit- 
ness the  integrity  and  unity  of  the  Chileans. 

The  fortitude  of  our  race  and  our  good  sense 
will  cause  us  to  rise  again  in  a  short  time  to  a  greater 
prosperity. 

You  plainly  see  that  Chile  is  still  entire  and  that 
our  misfortune  was  more  painful  than  injurious. 

We  did  not,  therefore,  think  for  a  moment  that 
you  might  postpone  your  visit.  On  the  contrary, 
we  telegraphed  to  you  a  few  hours  after  the  earth- 
quake: "Our  home  is  demolished;  but  come,  sir, 
for  we  are  safe,  calm,  and  diligent." 

Besides,  the  plain  dignity  of  your  character, 
which  we  knew,  and  the  objects  of  your  visit  en- 
couraged us  to  speak  to  you. 

You  have  come,  most  excellent  sir,  to  offer  your 
overproduction  to  our  consumers,  and  to  ask  a  larger 
place  for  the  Americans  in  the  Chilean  heart. 

You  are  going  to  obtain  all  that.     But,  besides 


172  CHILE. 

this,  Mr.  Root,  please  bear  to  the  sons  of  the  United 
States,  and  especially  to  our  brothers  in  misfortune 
at  San  Francisco,  California,  a  sacred  homage — the 
intense  gratitude  of  the  society  and  Government  of 
Chile  for  the  generous  aid  to  our  sufferers  by  which 
the  Americans  are  proving  to  us  that  along  with 
greatness  of  power  they  have  greatness  of  heart. 

We  knew  of  all  this  greatness.  With  a  territory 
covering  half  a  continent  and  nourished  by  every 
kind  of  riches,  with  a  firm  and  impulsive  character, 
with  broad  and  far-reaching  views  along  every  chan- 
nel which  human  activity  can  pursue,  and  endowed 
with  a  clear  instinct  of  what  is  possible,  the  Ameri- 
cans have  become  useful  and  wealthy. 

They  understood  two  essential  things,  namely, 
that  government  is  not  merely  a  pleasant  and  cov- 
etable  ideal,  but  a  fundamental  necessity,  and  that 
the  greatest  value  does  not  consist  in  traditions  or 
fortune,  but  in  personal  merit.  They  therefore  abol- 
ished every  unjustified  distinction  of  superiority  and 
organized  as  a  democracy. 

The  result  of  the  combination  of  such  rare  and 
happy  moral  and  material  elements  has  been  the 
springing  up  of  a  nation  as  powerful  as  the  most 
powerful,  and  in  freedom  equaled  by  none. 

And  how  well  the  United  States  know  that  there 
is  no  greatness  without  liberty ! 

Since  the  consciousness  of  right  has  become 
deeper,  principles  of  respect  and  faith  have  become 
implanted  in  the  commonwealth  of  nations,  what- 
ever be  the  extent  of  their  territory,  their  population, 


HUNEEUS.  173 

v 

or  their  armed  forces.  The  inveterate  abuses  of 
force  are  disappearing.  The  principle  which,  being 
embodied  into  a  law  of  equality  among  all  the 
nations,  always  prevails  at  present  in  international 
relations  is  that  of  liberty  for  the  weaker  side. 

The  American  Union — the  free  country — years 
ago  established  its  foreign  policy  on  the  plan  of 
equality.  Its  commercial  flag  waves  throughout  the 
world  without  arrogance  or  spirit  of  intervention. 

Your  natural  wisdom  tells  you,  Mr.  Root,  that 
you  do  not  need  any  other  than  mercantile  expan- 
sion, and  still  more  that  none  other  would  be  suited 
to  you. 

You  have  of  late  repeatedly  given  practical  and 
unmistakable  testimonials  that  this  is  your  policy. 

You  have  stated  so  yourself  at  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
and  your  presence  among  us  is  a  further  proof  that 
your  purposes  are  friendly  and  frank. 

Let  us  enter  commercial  relations  with  the 
United  States  with  friendship  and  confidence.  We 
shall  proceed  as  far  as  is  mutually  beneficial  to  us, 
and  this  will  be  shown  us  by  the  natural  laws  of 
mercantile  transactions. 

The  Government  desires  that  American  goods 
shall  come  to  Chile  in  abundance  to  facilitate  living, 
and  it  earnestly  desires  at  the  same  time  that  Chilean 
products  may  be  multiplied  and  that  they  may  en- 
deavor to  offset  those  importations. 

Since  the  i6th  of  August  we  have  been  pushing 
more  resolutely  than  before  the  work  of  our  resto- 
ration. We  have  all  the  moral  factors,  namely, 


1 74  CHILE. 

order,  will,  and  an  apt  and  energetic  people.  We 
also  have  incalculable  and  extremely  varied  natural 
resources.  There  is  only  one  material  factor  on 
which  we  may  be  short,  namely,  capital,  which  is  a 
powerful  force  if  well  employed. 

Chile  will  be  glad  to  see  American  capital  come 
and  establish  itself  in  our  commercial  and  industrial 
circulation.  It  will  blend  well  with  Chilean  honor 
and  will  prosper  under  the  protection  of  our  laws, 
which  are  liberal  with  the  foreigner,  and  under  the 
shelter  of  our  Government,  which  is  unshakable. 

We  are  certain  that  Chilean  interests  will  meet 
the  same  repect  from  the  Government  of  the  Union 
as  we  cherish  for  American  interests. 

The  infinite  variety  of  articles  of  supply  and  con- 
sumption will  certainly  enable  the  interchange  of 
goods  between  Chile  and  America  to  increase  with- 
out narrowing  the  horizons  of  our  commerce  with 
friendly  markets  which  to-day  bring  us  capital,  raw 
materials,  workmen,  and  manufactures. 

The  American  Union  has  happily  solved  its  in- 
ternal and  foreign  problems,  has  established  its 
political  and  economic  power  on  a  firm  basis,  and 
is,  finally,  in  full  enjoyment  of  its  natural  greatness 
and  freely  exercising  all  its  energies  at  the  present 
time.  We  have  attentively  observed  that  it  desires 
to  promote  the  progress  of  the  world  and  to  see  the 
other  nations  of  Christendom,  especially  the  Ameri- 
can Republics,  associated  in  this  great  work  on 
terms  of  equality,  friendship,  and  mutual  benefit. 


HUNEEUS.  175 

We  respond,  therefore,  to  its  affectionate  call  by 
declaring  that  we  are  imbued  with  sincere  faith  in 
the  friendship  of  the  Government  and  the  people  of 
the  United  States ;  we  utter  fervent  wishes  that  our 
mutual  confidence  may  become  strengthened  and  be 
free  of  misgivings ;  and  we  prophesy  that  the  rap- 
prochement which  the  eminent  Secretary  of  State 
now  visiting  us  has  initiated  will  be  of  beneficent 
influence  on  our  international  cordiality  and  bring 
prosperous  results  for  our  development. 

Most  excellent  Mr.  Root,  His  Excellency  the 
President  of  the  Republic  requests  you  to  say  to 
the  illustrious  President  Roosevelt  and  to  your 
fellow-citizens  that  the  Chilean  people  fraternize 
cordially  with  the  American  people ;  that  our  mar- 
kets are  free  to  them ;  that  we  admire  your  Govern- 
ment officials;  that  your  most  excellent  minister, 
Mr.  Hicks,  enjoys  our  highest  esteem  and  good 
feeling;  and  that  we  have  received  you  and  your 
most  worthy  family  with  open  hearts. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  PRESIDENT;  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

I  beg  you  to  believe  in  the  sincere  and  high 
appreciation  which  I  have  for  all  the  kindness  you 
have  shown  me  and  my  family  since  our  arrival  in 
Chile.  I  believe  that  the  delicacy,  the  sense  of 
propriety  and  fitness,  that  have  characterized  our 
reception,  both  official  and  personal,  have  produced 
in  our  minds,  under  the  sad  circumstances  of  the 
great  misfortune  that  hangs  over  the  Chilean  people 
like  a  cloud,  a  deeper  impression  than  the  most 
splendid  and  sumptuous  display.  I  believe  that  to 
be  able  to  mourn  with  you  in  your  loss,  to  sympa- 
thize with  you  in  your  misfortune,  draws  us  closer 
to  you  than  to  be  with  you  in  the  greatest  prosperity 
and  happiness  upon  which  the  brightest  sun  has 
ever  shone. 

I  thank  you  for  your  kindly  expressions  regarding 
my  President,  regarding  myself,  and  regarding  my 
country.  In  the  "United  States  of  America,"  as 
our  Constitution  called  us  many  years  ago — the 
"United  States  of  North  America,"  as  perhaps  we 
should  call  ourselves  south  of  the  Equator — we  have 
been  for  a  long  time,  and  are  now,  trying  to  recon- 
cile individual  liberty  with  public  order,  local  self- 
government  with  a  strong  central  and  national 
176 


ROOT.  177 

control ;  trying  to  develop  the  capacity  of  the  indi- 
viduals of  our  people  to  control  themselves  and 
also  the  capacity  of  the  people  collectively  for  self- 
government  ;  trying  to  adopt  sound  financial  meth- 
ods, to  promote  justice — a  justice  compatible  with 
mercy — and  to  make  progress  in  all  that  makes  a 
people  happier,  more  prosperous,  better  educated, 
better  able  to  perform  their  duties  as  citizens  and  to 
do  their  part  in  the  world  to  help  humanity  out  of 
the  hard  conditions  of  poverty  and  ignorance  and 
along  the  pathway  of  civilization.  We  have  done 
what  we  could.  We  have  committed  errors  and  we 
acknowledge  them  and  are  deeply  conscious  of 
them ;  but  we  are  justly  proud  of  our  country  for 
the  progress  it  has  made,  and  we  look  on  every 
country  that  is  engaged  in  that  same  struggle  for 
liberty  and  justice  with  profound  sympathy  and 
warm  friendship. 

I  am  here  to  say  to  the  Chilean  people  that  al- 
though there  have  been  misunderstandings  in  the 
past,  they  were  misunderstandings  such  as  arise  be- 
tween two  vigorous,  proud  peoples  that  know  each 
other  too  little.  Let  us  know  each  other  better  and 
we  shall  have  put  an  end  to  misunderstandings. 
The  present  moment  is  especially  propitious  for 
saying  this,  because  we  are  upon  the  threshold  of 
great  events  in  this  Western  World  of  ours.  In 
my  own  country  the  progress  of  development  has 
reached  a  point  of  transition.  In  the  fifty  years 
from  1850  to  1900  we  received  on  our  shores  nearly 

R 12 


1 78  CHILE. 

twenty  million  immigrants  from  the  Old  World. 
We  borrowed  from  the  Old  World  thousands  of 
millions  of  dollars,  and  with  the  strong  arm  of  the 
immigrants  and  with  the  capital  from  the  Old  World 
we  have  threaded  the  country  with  railroads,  we 
have  constructed  great  public  works,  we  have  cre- 
ated the  phenomenal  prosperity  that  you  all  know ; 
and  now  we  have  paid  our  debts  to  Europe,  we 
have  returned  the  capital  with  which  our  country 
was  built  up,  and  in  the  last  half  dozen  years  we 
have  been  accumulating  an  excess  of  capital  that  is 
beginning  to  seek  an  outlet  in  foreign  enterprises. 

At  the  same  time,  there  is  seen  in  South  Amer- 
ica the  dawn  of  a  new  life  which  moves  its  people, 
as  they  have  never  been  moved  before,  with  the 
spirit  of  industrial  and  commercial  progress. 

At  a  banquet  that  was  given  last  winter  to  a 
great  and  distinguished  man,  Lord  Grey,  Governor- 
General  of  Canada,  he  said:  "The  nineteenth  cen- 
tury was  the  century  of  the  United  States;  the 
twentieth  century  will  be  the  century  of  Canada." 
I  should  feel  surer  as  a  prophet  if  I  were  to  say : 
"  The  twentieth  century  will  be  the  century  of 
South  America."  I  believe,  with  him,  in  the  great 
development  of  Canada ;  but  just  as  the  nineteenth 
century  was  the  century  of  phenomenal  develop- 
ment in  North  America,  I  believe  that  no  student 
can  help  seeing  that  the  twentieth  century  will  be 
the  century  of  phenomenal  development  in  South 
America. 

And  so  our  countries  will  be  face  to  face  in  a 


ROOT.  1 79 

new  attitude.  We  can  not  longer  remain  strangers 
to  each  other;  our  relations  must  be  those  of  inti- 
macy, and  this  is  the  time  to  say  that  our  relations 
will  be  those  of  friendship. 

On  the  other  hand,  before  long  the  construc- 
tion of  the  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
which  will  fulfill  the  dreams  of  the  early  naviga- 
tors, which  will  accomplish  the  work  projected  for 
centuries,  will  at  last  be  completed,  while  the  men 
who  are  to-day  active  in  the  business  of  both  coun- 
tries are  still  on  the  field  of  action. 

This,  therefore,  is  the  moment  to  safeguard  har- 
mony in  the  relations  between  the  two  nations. 

I  do  not  believe  that  anyone  can  say  what 
changes  the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  will  bring 
in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  but  we  do  know  that  the 
great  changes  in  the  commercial  routes  of  the  world 
have  changed  the  course  of  history,  and  no  one  can 
doubt  that  the  creation  of  a  waterway  that  will  put 
the  Pacific  coast  of  South  America  in  close  touch 
with  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North  America  must  be 
a  factor  of  incalculable  importance  in  determining 
the  affairs  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  and  promot- 
ing our  relations  of  intimacy  and  friendship. 

Now,  at  this  moment,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
great  commercial  and  industrial  awakening — I  say 
at  the  beginning,  notwithstanding  all  that  you  have 
already  done,  because  I  believe  you  have  only  begun 
to  realize  the  great  work  you  have  before  you — at 
this  moment  there  falls  on  you  this  terrible  misfor- 
tune, one  of  those  warnings  that  at  times  God  sends 


l8o  CHILE. 

to  his  people  to  show  them  how  weak  they  are  in 
his  hands — a  misfortune  on  account  of  which  the 
entire  world  mourns  with  you.  But  I  believe — I 
know — that  the  air  of  these  mountains  and  of  these 
shores,  which  in  another  time  gave  its  spirit  to  the 
proud  and  indomitable  Arucanian  race,  has  given  to 
the  people  of  Chile  the  vigor  with  which  to  rise  up 
from  the  ashes  of  Valparaiso  and  with  which  to 
make  out  of  the  misfortune  of  to-day  the  incentive 
for  great  deeds  to-morrow.  And  in  this  era  of  friend- 
ship, when  peaceful  immigration  has  replaced  armed 
invasions,  when  the  free  exchange  of  capital  and  the 
international  ownership  of  industrial  and  commer- 
cial enterprises,  of  manufactures,  of  mines,  have  re- 
placed rapine  and  plunder — in  this  era  of  commer- 
cial conquest  and  industrial  acquisition,  of  more 
frequent  intercourse  among  men,  of  more  intimate 
knowledge  and  better  understanding,  there  has  come 
to  you  in  this  your  great  misfortune  the  friendship 
and  the  sympathy  of  the  world. 

In  truth,  our  friends  who  sleep  the  last  sleep 
there  in  Valparaiso  have  brought  to  their  country  a 
possession  of  greater  value  than  was  ever  won  by 
the  soldier  on  the  battle  field. 

As  I  said  to  you  yesterday,  Mr.  President,  I 
feared  that  under  the  present  sad  circumstances  I 
might  be  intruding  upon  you ;  should  I  not  rather 
feel  that  the  words  of  friendship  of  which  I  am  the 
bearer  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  sentiment 
that  your  affliction  has  created  in  all  countries:  the 
universal  recognition  of  the  brotherhood  of  man. 


VI. 


Speeches  in  Peru. 


181 


Speech  of  Doctor  Federico  Elguera,  Mayor  of  Lima, 
welcoming  Mr.  Root,  at  the  Municipal  Council, 
September  10,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

MR.  ROOT: 

The  citizens  of  Lima  welcome  you  and  feel  glad 
to  have  you  amongst  them. 

You  arrive  at  the  capital  of  Peru  after  having 
visited  the  leading  cities  in  South  America  and  after 
having  therein  received  the  greetings  so  justly  due 
the  great  American  nation  and  your  own  personal 
merits. 

You  are  an  ambassador  of  peace,  a  messenger  of 
good  will,  and  the  herald  of  doctrines  which  sustain 
America's  autonomy  and  strengthen  the  faith  in  our 
future  welfare. 

The  wake  left  by  the  vessel  which  has  brought 
you  hither  serves  as  a  symbol,  indicating  union, 
fraternity,  and  friendship  between  the  northern  and 
southern  states  of  this  continent. 

You  have  been  able  to  judge  and  form  a  general 
opinion  as  to  the  present  state  of  the  political,  eco- 
nomical, and  social  development  of  Latin  America. 
You  also  know  now  what  her  resources  are  and  to 
what  conditions  the  growth  and  progress  are  due 
on  this  southern  continent. 

183 


184  PERU. 

After  visiting  prosperous  countries,  whose  peace- 
ful labor  on  behalf  of  civilization  has  not  been  dis- 
turbed by  the  sorrows  of  war,  you  reach  a  land 
where  once  flourished  the  greatest  empire  which 
ever  arose  in  America. 

You  have  arrived  at  the  ancient  metropolis  of 
Spanish  America;  you  are  now  at  the  heart  of  a 
nation  which  attracted  in  former  days  the  world's 
attention  on  account  of  its  greatness  and  the  treas- 
ures it  possessed — a  nation  which  fought  the  final 
battles  for  independence,  and,  more  important  than 
all,  a  country  which,  having  been  shaken  and  con- 
vulsed by  dissension,  has  risen  once  more  to  a  life 
of  well-being  through  a  supreme  effort  of  will  and 
a  firm  belief  in  its  future. 

The  Peru  which  you  are  visiting  is  not  only  the 
country  of  olden  times,  which  tradition  has  made 
known  to  you  for  its  fabulous  wealth,  but  it  is  a 
modern  country,  versed  in  the  principles  of  order, 
industry,  and  labor. 

Nations  which  live  exclusively  on  the  wealth 
given  to  them  by  nature  make  no  effort  to  become 
greater,  nor  do  they  consider  their  future  welfare, 
but  perish,  crushed  by  those  whose  envy  and  greed 
they  excite. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  have  their  pros- 
perity based  on  the  principles  of  justice,  trade,  and 
peace  attain  success  and  incite  others  to  follow, 
contributing  thus  to  the  great  work  of  universal 
civilization. 


ELGUERA.  185 

Unfortunately,  this  peace,  based  on  those  princi- 
ples, must  be  sustained  abroad,  following  the  exam- 
ple of  the  Old  World,  by  the  acquisition  of  elements 
of  warfare  only  useful  for  the  destruction  and  ruin  of 
men  and  progress,  wasting  the  national  vitality  and 
prosperity,  earned  by.  dint  of  the  labor  of  the  citi- 
zens and  the  products  of  the  resources  that  nature 
has  given  us. 

To  change  this  system  for  another  which  would 
insure  for  our  nations  the  tranquil  possession  of  what 
lawfully  belongs  to  them,  allowing  them  to  devote 
their  efforts  fearlessly  to  their  own  advancement,  is 
the  noble  work  to  which  the  endeavors  of  the  great 
nation  which  has  risen  up  in  the  New  World  should 
be  directed,  just  as  the  sun  rises  in  the  celestial 
dome  to  give  light,  heat,  and  life ;  to  maintain  the 
equilibrium  and  prevent  the  collision  of  lesser  stars. 

Such  ideals  of  civilization  and  fraternity  have 
always  guided  the  conduct  of  Peru,  whose  influence 
and  predominance  in  other  times  enabled  her  to 
watch  over  justice,  to  render  assistance  to  the  weak, 
to  fight  against  oppression,  and  to  defend  the  rights 
of  America. 

For  this  reason  we  heartily  sympathize  with  the 
doctrines  you  proclaim ;  for  this  reason  we  extend 
to  you,  with  sincere  regard,  the  hand  of  friendship ; 
for  this  reason  we  feel  satisfaction  and  pride  when 
we  behold  the  marvelous  progress  of  your  country. 

When  nations  succeed  in  reaching  the  degree 
of  prosperity  at  which  yours  has  arrived  they  do 


1 86  PERU. 

not  excite  envy,  but  emulation ;  they  do  not  inspire 
fear,  but  confidence. 

Ere  long  the  vigorous  arm  of  your  people  will 
tear  away  the  strip  of  land  which  still  keeps  us  apart, 
and  on  the  union  of  two  oceans  of  our  hemisphere 
may  we  hope  that  the  spirits  of  Washington  and 
Bolivar  will  watch  the  maintenance  of  peace  and 
justice  and  follow  the  destinies  of  the  Republics 
which  they  created. 

Mr.  Root,  may  the  days  that  you  are  about  to 
spend  amongst  us  be  happy  and  agreeable,  and  may 
their  memory  ever  accompany  you,  as  ours  will  ever 
retain  the  grateful  impression  of  your  visit. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


HONORABLE  MAYOR: 

I  beg  you  to  believe  that  I  appreciate  most 
highly  your  kind  welcome  and  the  friendly  terms 
with  which  you  have  greeted  me.  I  do  not  feel  as 
though  I  were  coming  among  strangers  when  I 
enter  Peru ;  I  do  not  feel  that  I  am  treading  on 
unknown  soil  when  I  set  foot  upon  the  streets  of 
your  famous  and  historic  city.  I  think  no  city  in 
the  world — certainly  no  city  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere— is  better  known  in  the  United  States  of 
America  than  the  city  of  Lima.  Almost  every 
schoolboy  in  the  United  States  has  read  in  the 
description  of  our  own  historian  the  story  of  the 
founding  of  this  city.  We  all  know  the  wonderful 
and  romantic  history  of  your  four  centuries  of  life ; 
we  all  know  the  charms,  the  graces,  and  the  lovable 
qualities  of  your  people. 

We  know  that  you  are  the  metropolis  of  a  peo- 
ple who  carried  the  art  of  agriculture  to  the  highest 
degree  of  efficiency — a  people  frugal,  industrious, 
and  of  domestic  virtue.  We  have  seen  with  gratifi- 
cation that  you  are  becoming  also  the  metropolis  of 
a  people  capable  of  winning  from  your  mountains 
the  inexhaustible  wealth  which  they  contain — the 

187 


1 88  PERU. 

metropolis  of  a  great  mining  people — and  within 
the  past  few  years  we  have  been  rejoiced  to  see  that 
you  are  also  on  the  road  to  become  the  metropolis 
of  a  great  manufacturing  people. 

We  have  read,  too,  the  story  of  your  struggles- 
first  for  independence,  then  for  liberty,  then  for 
justice  and  order  and  peace ;  and  with  the  memory 
of  our  own  struggles  for  liberty  and  justice,  with 
the  experience  of  our  own  trials  and  difficulties, 
rejoicing  in  our  own  success  and  prosperity,  Mr. 
Mayor,  the  feeling  of  sympathy  and  rejoicing  in 
your  success  in  overcoming  the  obstacles  that  have 
stood  in  your  way,  in  your  growth  in  capacity  for 
self-government,  in  the  continuing  strength  of  all 
the  principles  of  justice  and  of  order  and  of  peace, 
is  universal  in  my  country  and  among  my  people. 

So  I  come  to  you  not  to  make  friends,  but  as  a 
friend  among  friends.  I  thank  you  with  all  my 
heart,  both  for  myself  and  for  my  people,  for  the 
kindness  of  your  welcome  and  for  what  I  know  to 
be  the  sincerity  of  your  friendship. 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Doctor  Josd  Par  do  y  Bar- 
reda,  President  of  the  Republic  of  Peru,  at  a 
banquet  given  by  him  to  Mr.  Root  at  the  Gov- 
ernment Palace  in  Lima,  on  September  10, 1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

YOUR  EXCELLENCY  MR.  ROOT: 

With  the  most  sincere  good  will,  I  cordially 
welcome  you  in  the  name  of  my  country  and  of  its 
Government,  and  I  believe  I  faithfully  interpret  the 
sentiments  that  rule  in  Peru  in  telling  you  of  its 
sincere  good  will  towards  the  United  States,  their 
illustrious  President,  and  towards  your  own  distin- 
guished person.  These  feelings  which  unite  the 
two  countries  began  in  the  dawn  of  independence, 
because  the  founders  of  the  great  Republic  showed 
our  forefathers  the  way  to  become  free ;  and  they 
strengthened  us  from  the  first  days  of  our  independ- 
ent life  by  the  safeguard  which  the  admirable  fore- 
sight of  another  great  statesman  of  your  country 
placed  around  American  soil. 

Since  then  the  closest  friendship  unites  the  two 
nations.  Peru  has  received  from  the  United  States 
proofs  of  a  very  special  deference,  and  has  appre- 
ciated the  efforts  made  by  your  Government  to 
establish  political  relations  between  the  American 

189 


PERU. 

peoples  upon  the  basis  of  right.  In  this  most  noble 
aspiration,  worthy  of  the  greatness  of  your  country, 
Peru,  on  her  part,  unreservedly  acquiesces. 

The  lofty  ideas  which  you  have  expressed  since 
your  arrival  in  South  America,  the  frank  expres- 
sions of  cordiality,  the  concepts  of  stimulus  and  aid 
to  induce  us,  the  Americans  of  the  South,  to  work 
in  the  same  way  as  those  of  the  North,  with  earnest- 
ness and  unflinching  hope  in  the  future,  have  in 
every  breast  the  most  pleasing  echo,  and  they  direct 
towards  your  person  the  most  lively  sympathy. 

Closely  associated  fellow-worker  with  the  illus- 
trious statesman  who  rules  the  destinies  of  your 
country,  to  you  belongs,  in  a  great  measure,  the 
acclamation  with  which  America  and  the  entire 
world  greet  the  great  nation  which  has  constituted 
the  most  perfect  democratic  society,  which  made 
the  most  surprising  progress  in  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic order,  and  which  placed  the  prestige  of  its 
greatness  in  the  service  of  peace  all  over  the  world. 

Gentlemen,  I  invite  you  to  drink  to  the  United 
States ;  to  its  President,  Mr.  Roosevelt ;  and  to  its 
Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Root. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  PRESIDENT: 

I  thank  you  sincerely,  both  in  my  own  behalf 
and  in  behalf  of  my  country,  for  your  kind  welcome 
and  for  the  words,  full  of  friendship  and  of  kindly 
judgment,  you  have  uttered  regarding  my  country 
and  regarding  her  servants,  the  President  and  myself. 
The  distinguished  gentleman  who  represents  Peru 
in  the  capital  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and 
who  shares  with  you,  sir,  the  inheritance  of  a  name 
great  and  honored,  not  only  in  Peru  but  wherever 
the  friends  of  constitutional  freedom  are  found — in 
his  note  of  invitation  to  me,  upon  which  I  am  now 
a  visitor  to  your  city,  used  a  form  of  expression  that 
has  dwelt  in  my  memory,  because  it  was  so  true. 
He  spoke  of  the  old,  sincere,  and  cordial  friendship 
of  our  two  countries — that  is  indeed  true  of  the 
friendship  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  the 
Republic  of  Peru.  It  is  an  old  friendship,  a  sin- 
cere friendship,  and  a  cordial  friendship.  I  have 
come  here  not  to  make  new  friends,  but  to  greet 
old  ones;  not  to  make  a  new  departure  in  policy, 
but  to  follow  old  and  honored  lines ;  and  I  should 
have  thought  that  in  coming  to  South  America  in 
answer  to  the  invitations  of  the  different  countries, 

191 


192  PERU 

all  down  the  east  and  up  the  west  coast,  to  have 
passed  by  Peru  would  indeed  be  to  have  played 
Hamlet  with  Hamlet  left  out.  It  is  still  a  more 
natural  and  still  a  stronger  impulse  to  visit  Peru 
now  as  a  part  of  a  mission  of  friendship  and  good 
will,  when  the  relations  between  the  two  countries  are 
about  to  become  drawn  closer  together  materially. 
The  completing  of  the  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  will  make  us  near  neighbors  as  we  have 
never  been  before,  so  that  we  may  take  our  state- 
rooms at  the  wharf  at  Callao  or  at  New  York  and 
visit  each  other  without  change  of  quarters  during 
the  journey.  And  no  one  can  tell  what  the  effect  of 
the  canal  will  be.  We  do  know  that  nothing  of  the 
kind  was  ever  done  before  in  human  history  without 
producing  a  most  powerful  effect  upon  mankind. 
The  course  of  civilization,  the  rise  and  fall  of  na- 
tions, the  development  of  mankind,  have  followed 
the  establishment  of  new  trade  routes.  No  one  can 
now  tell  what  the  specific  effect  of  the  cutting  of  the 
canal  across  the  Isthmus  may  be,  but  the  effect  will 
be  great  and  momentous  in  the  affairs  of  the  world. 
Of  this  we  may  be  certain,  that  for  the  nations  sit- 
uated immediately  to  the  south  and  immediately  to 
the  north  of  the  canal  there  will  be  great  change  in 
their  relations  with  the  rest  of  the  world ;  and  it  is 
most  gratifying  to  know  that  this  great  work  which 
the  United  States  of  America  is  now  undertaking— 
the  cost  of  which  she  does  not  ever  expect  to  get 
back — a  work  which  she  is  doing  not  merely  for 


ROOT.  193 

her  own  benefit,  but  because  she  is  moved  by  the 
belief  that  great  things  are  worth  doing,  is  going 
to  bring  great  benefits  to  the  entire  world,  and  to 
her  old  friend  and  her  good  friend,  the  Republic 
of  Peru. 

I  thank  you,  Mr.  President,  for  your  kind  recep- 
tion, and  I  beg  you  to  permit  me  to  ask  the  gentle- 
men here  to  join  me  in  proposing  in  behalf  of 
President  Roosevelt  the  health  and  long  life  and 
prosperity  of  the  President  of  Peru. 

R 13 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Javier  Prado  y  Ugarteche, 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  at  a  banquet  given 
by  him  at  the  Union  Club,  to  Mr.  Root  and  his 
family,  in  Lima,  September  n,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

HONORABLE  MR.  ROOT;  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 
It  is  with  the  liveliest  feelings  of  consideration 
and  sympathy  that  I  have  the  honor  to  offer  this 
manifestation  to  His  Excellency  Mr.  Elihu  Root, 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
Yielding  to  the  generous  impulses  of  your  heart 
of  an  American,  and  of  your  brain  of  a  thinker  and 
of  a  statesman,  you  have  felt  a  desire,  Mr.  Root, 
to  visit  these  countries,  to  address  them  words  of 
friendship  and  of  interest  in  their  welfare  in  the 
name  of  the  honorable  Government  which  you 
represent,  and  to  shed  over  this  continent  the  rays 
of  the  noble  ideal  of  American  confraternity. 

Your  visit  will  undoubtedly  produce  fruitful 
results  on  behalf  of  liberty  and  of  justice,  of  peace 
and  of  progress,  of  order  and  of  improvement,  which 
you  have  proclaimed  as  being  the  highest  principles 
inspiring  the  policy  of  the  United  States  in  the 
special  mission  for  which  their  peculiar  virtues  and 
194 


PRADO.  195 

energy  have  marked  them  out  in  the  destiny  of 
humanity. 

When  those  austere  individuals  of  the  American 
independence  laid  the  foundations  of  the  great  Re- 
public of  the  North,  and  gave  it  its  Constitution, 
they  were  not  inspired  by  narrow-minded  ideas  or 
by  selfish  and  transitory  interest,  but  by  a  profound 
conviction  of  the  rights  of  man  and  a  deep  feeling 
of  liberty  and  of  justice,  which,  in  its  irresistible 
consequences,  would  bring  about  the  social  and 
political  transformation  which  came  to  pass  in  the 
world  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  was 
destined  to  constitute  the  gospel  of  liberty  and  of 
democracy  in  our  modern  regime. 

This  same  people,  although  still  in  its  youth,  did 
not  hesitate,  shortly  after,  all  alone,  to  guarantee 
the  independence  of  all  the  American  countries, 
placing  before  the  great  powers  of  the  world  the 
pillars  of  Hercules  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  form- 
ing an  impassable  gateway  to  a  free  and  unconquer- 
able America. 

To-day  this  same  people  excites  the  admiration 
of  the  whole  world  by  its  grandeur.  Its  Govern- 
ment brings  to  its  level  the  harmony  of  humanity ; 
reestablishes,  on  the  one  hand,  peace  between  the 
empires  of  Europe  and  of  Asia,  and,  on  the  other, 
between  the  Republics  of  Central  America ;  patron- 
izes the  Congress  of  The  Hague,  and  in  it  obtains 
the  recognition  of  the  personality  of  the  American 
nations,  and  further  delays  its  approaching  reunion 


196  PERU. 

in  order  that  the  Pan-American  Congress  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro  may  previously  hold  its  sessions ;  thus  giving 
proof  of  the  interest  it  takes,  with  equal  concern,  in 
the  future  of  the  peoples  civilized  for  a  century  and 
also  in  that  of  the  countries  just  commencing  their 
existence.  The  American  Constitution,  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  together  with  the  policy  of  President 
Roosevelt  and  of  his  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Root, 
give  utterance  in  this  manner,  through  the  pages  of 
history,  to  the  same  language  of  liberty,  of  justice, 
humanity,  and  Americanism. 

How  deep  is  the  lesson  to  be  learned  from  these 
facts ! 

The  ancient  ideas  founded  right  upon  force,  the 
regime  of  the  social  bodies  was  that  of  privilege, 
and  the  individual  efforts  were  tied  down  by  bonds 
imposed  in  name  of  the  authorities.  The  modern 
ideas,  such  as  the  United  States  proclaim,  found 
all  right  upon  justice,  and  the  social  regime  upon 
liberty  and  equality.  The  human  being  is  not  an 
instrument  for  the  display  of  arbitrary  power,  but 
is  the  whole  object  of  social  life,  the  mission  of 
which  is  the  development  of  its  energies,  its  moral 
conscience,  the  improvement  and  welfare  of  indi- 
viduals and  of  nations. 

According  to  the  ancient  ideas,  the  greatness  of 
the  nations  was  measured  by  their  military  power 
and  by  the  limits  of  their  conquests  of  force. 
According  to  modern  ideas,  as  represented  by  the 
United  States,  the  greatness  of  nations  is  measured 


PRADO.  197 

by  the  conquests  obtained  by  individual  and  collect- 
ive efforts,  thereby  creating  the  fruitful  and  happy 
reign  of  truth,  of  justice,  of  labor,  and  of  peace. 

War  was  formerly  a  glory ;  nowadays  it  is  a 
calamity.  Later  on  it  will  be  condemned  as  the 
sad  ancestral  remains  of  barbarism  and  savagery. 

The  evolution  of  ideas  is  that  which  now  rules 
the  world,  and  if  people  do  not  always  comprehend 
this  fact  it  is  because  the  selfish  and  personal  preju- 
dices, passions,  and  interests  disturb  and  impair  their 
judgment. 

In  modern  progress,  the  regime  of  privilege  and 
of  force  can  no  longer  create  rights  or  lend  security 
for  the  future  or  the  aggrandizement  of  nations; 
and  nowadays  those  individuals  do  not  render  a 
service  to  their  native  land  who,  while  they  sacri- 
fice permanent  interests,  think  they  can  calculate 
the  meridian  of  their  country  by  the  artificial  reflec- 
tions of  a  moment,  transitory  and  perishable. 

The  regime  of  force  or  of  armed  peace  consumes 
the  vital  forces  and  the  resources  of  nations;  and 
then  from  the  abyss  of  inequality,  of  affliction,  and 
danger  produced,  bursts  forth  once  more  the  social 
and  political  problem  demanding,  with  threats,  the 
reform  of  the  evil,  and  laying  down  the  maxim  that 
only  an  ideal  and  regime  of  justice,  of  liberty,  and  of 
human  solidarity  can  possibly  stand  forth,  firm  and 
unshaken,  amidst  the  ruins  in  which  the  wild  ideas 
of  greatness  held  by  the  military  powers  of  the  world 
must  remain  buried  forever. 


198  PERU. 

It  is  not  by  means  of  a  regime  of  imposition  and 
of  force,  but  by  that  of  liberty,  peace,  and  labor, 
that  the  United  States  of  America  has  been  ena- 
bled to  form  a  marvelous  abode  of  vitality  and  hu- 
man progress ;  and  its  Government,  with  a  perfect 
insight  into  the  greatness  of  that  country  and  of  its 
destiny,  to-day  addresses  the  present  and  the  future 
of  our  world,  and  with  special  interest  explains  to 
America  what  are  the  only  paths  that  will  lead  the 
nations  following  them  to  the  attainment  of  tran- 
quillity and  well-being. 

Once  that  existence  is  obtained,  you  have  said, 
Mr.  Root,  that  it  is  necessary  to  live  and  advance 
worthily  and  honorably,  and  that  this  object  can  not 
be  attained  by  a  regime  of  domestic  oppression  and 
of  privilege,  nor  by  the  external  one  of  isolation  or 
of  war,  but  by  that  of  liberty,  order,  justice,  econom- 
ical progress,  moral  improvement,  intellectual  ad- 
vance, respect  for  the  rights  of  others,  and  a  feeling 
of  human  solidarity.  You  have  clearly  stated : 

No  nation  can  live  unto  itself  alone  and  continue  to 
live.  Each  nation's  growth  is  a  part  of  the  development 
of  the  race.  *  *  *  A  people  whose  minds  are  not  open 
to  the  lessons  of  the  world's  progress,  whose  spirits  are 
not  stirred  by  the  aspirations  and  achievements  of  human- 
ity struggling  the  world  over  for  liberty  and  justice,  must 
be  left  behind  by  civilization  in  its  steady  and  beneficent 
advance. 

In  the  life  of  nations  there  must  always  prevail 
an  ideal  and  a  harmony  of  right,  of  liberty,  of  peace, 


PRADO.  199 

and  fraternity,  although  this  can  only  be  obtained 
by  persevering  efforts  and  by  sacrifices,  and  a  long 
and  distressing  march.  It  is  necessary  to  "labor 
more  for  the  future  than  for  the  present,"  and  unite 
together  all  the  nations  engaged  in  the  same  great 
task,  inspired  by  a  like  ideal,  and  professing  similar 
principles. 

In  accordance  with  these  highly  elevated  ideas 
you  have  given  utterance  to  a  profession  of  faith 
setting  forth  the  policy  of  the  United  States  in  the 
following  memorable  declarations : 

We  wish  for  no  victories  but  those  of  peace;  for  no 
territory  except  our  own ;  for  no  sovereignty  except  the 
sovereignty  over  ourselves.  We  deem  the  independence 
and  equal  right  of  the  smallest  and  weakest  member  of 
the  family  of  nations  entitled  to  as  much  respect  as  those 
of  the  greatest  empire,  and  we  deem  the  observance  of 
that  respect  the  chief  guaranty  of  the  weak  against  the 
oppression  of  the  strong.  We  neither  claim  nor  desire 
any  rights,  or  privileges,  or  powers  that  we  do  not  freely 
concede  to  every  American  Republic.  We  wish  to  increase 
our  prosperity,  to  expand  our  trade,  to  grow  in  wealth, 
in  wisdom,  and  in  spirit;  but  our  conception  of  the  true 
way  to  accomplish  this  is  not  to  pull  down  others  and 
profit  by  their  ruin,  but  to  help  all  friends  to  a  common 
prosperity  and  a  common  growth,  that  we  may  all  become 
greater  and  stronger  together. 

Within  a  few  months,  for  the  first  time  the  recognized 
possessors  of  every  foot  of  soil  upon  the  American  conti- 
nents can  be,  and  I  hope  will  be,  represented  with  the 
acknowledged  rights  of  equal  sovereign  states  in  the  great 
World  Congress  at  The  Hague.  This  will  be  the  world's 
formal  and  final  acceptance  of  the  declaration  that  no 


2OO  PERU. 

part  of  the  American  continents  is  to  be  deemed  subject 
to  colonization.  Let  us  pledge  ourselves  to  aid  each 
other  in  the  full  performance  of  the  duty  to  humanity 
which  that  accepted  declaration  implies,  so  that  in  time 
the  weakest  and  most  unfortunate  of  our  Republics  may 
come  to  march  with  equal  step  by  the  side  of  the  stronger 
and  more  fortunate.  Let  us  help  each  other  to  show  that 
for  all  the  races  of  men  the  liberty  for  which  we  have 
fought  and  labored  is  the  twin  sister  of  justice  and  peace. 
Let  us  unite  in  creating  and  maintaining  and  making 
effective  an  ail-American  public  opinion  whose  power 
shall  influence  international  conduct  and  prevent  interna- 
tional wrong,  and  narrow  the  causes  of  war,  and  for- 
ever preserve  our  free  lands  from  the  burden  of  such 
armaments  as  are  massed  behind  the  frontiers  of  Europe, 
and  bring  us  ever  nearer  to  the  perfection  of  ordered  lib- 
erty. So  shall  come  security  and  prosperity,  production 
and  trade,  wealth,  learning,  the  arts,  and  happiness  for 
us  all. 

Peru  has  read  your  words,  Mr.  Root,  with  pro- 
found attention.  She  is  proud  to  say  that  in  the 
modest  sphere  she  occupies  in  the  concert  of  nations 
she  accepts  your  phrases  and  ideas  as  her  own,  and 
declares  that  they  also  constitute  her  profession  of 
faith  as  regards  her  international  policy. 

With  your  superior  judgment  you  have  exactly 
comprehended  the  difficulties,  critical  moments,  and 
convulsions  which  the  countries  of  this  continent 
have  had  to  undergo  in  order  to  establish  a  repub- 
lican government,  together  with  a  regime  of  liberty 
and  democracy.  They  are  still  in  the  first  period  of 
their  development  and  have  yet  many  problems  to 
solve. 


PRADO.  2OI 

To  develop  the  immense  resources  and  wealth 
with  which  nature  has  so  wonderfully  endowed 
these  countries;  to  render  their  territory  accessible 
to  labor  and  civilization  by  opening  up  means  of 
communication,  granting  all  kinds  of  facilities  and 
giving  security  for  the  life,  health,  and  welfare  of 
their  inhabitants ;  to  obtain  the  population  which 
their  immense  territories  require;  to  educate  and  in- 
struct the  people,  making  them  understand  their  per- 
sonality, their  liberty,  their  duties,  and  their  rights ; 
to  develop  their  faculties  and  energies,  their  labor 
forces,  their  industrial  and  commercial  capacity  and 
power;  to  elevate  their  moral  dignity ;  to  consolidate 
and  strengthen  the  national  unity ;  to  insure  defin- 
itely the  government  of  the  people,  in  justice,  in 
order,  and  in  peace;  to  attract  capital  and  foreign 
immigration ;  to  develop  and  give  impulse  to  the 
commercial  relations  with  other  countries ;  to  main- 
tain a  frank  and  true  international  harmony  and 
solidarity ;  to  respect  all  mutual  and  reciprocal 
rights,  and  settle  all  disagreements  by  friendly,  just, 
and  honorable  means — to  perform,  in  short,  a  work 
of  human  civilization ;  these  are  undoubtedly  the 
points  which  ought  to  occupy,  first  of  all,  the 
thoughts  of  the  administration  of  these  countries, 
in  order  to  secure  their  tranquillity,  their  welfare, 
and  their  aggrandizement,  just  as  the  United  States 
have  done,  owing  to  the  genius  of  their  race  and 
the  power  of  their  ideals. 

If  the  nations  of  America,  instead  of  living  apart 
from  each  other  and  separated  by  mistrust,  threats, 


2O2  PERU. 

and  quarrels — which  unsettle  them,  rendering  their 
energy  and  development  fruitless,  just  as  they  have 
kept  up  a  state  of  anarchy,  for  a  long  time,  in  their 
internal  existence — would  unite  themselves  together 
by  the  natural  ties  which  the  community  of  their 
origin,  of  their  civilization,  of  their  necessities,  and 
their  destinies  clearly  indicate,  we  should  then  wit- 
ness the  realization  of  the  idea  which  you  have  con- 
ceived of  a  great,  prosperous,  and  happy  America ; 
the  union  of  sister  Republics,  free,  orderly,  labori- 
ous, lovers  of  justice,  knowledge,  sciences,  and  arts, 
cooperating,  each  one  and  all  of  them,  worthily 
and  effectively,  to  the  realization  of  the  great  work 
of  human  civilization  and  culture. 

The  standard  and  observance  of  justice  should 
bring  about  the  definite  disappearance  of  the  disa- 
greements which  may  have  caused  separation  among 
the  South  American  countries,  just  in  the  same  way 
as  family  quarrels  are  effaced  on  the  exhibition  of  a 
just  and  generous  sentiment  of  sincere  brotherhood 
and  harmony  which  vibrates  throughout  this  conti- 
nent as  an  intense  aspiration  of  the  American  soul 
and  as  a  noble  ideal  of  concord  and  of  justice. 

It  is  never  too  late  to  recognize  what  is  right  and 
to  proceed  with  rectitude.  My  memory  suggests 
an  important  event  which  occurred  some  few  years 
back  in  the  history  of  the  relations  between  Peru 
and  the  United  States,  described  most  correctly  by 
the  representative  of  your  Government  as  one  of 
those  most  worthy  of  note  in  the  annals  of  diplo- 
macy. I  refer  to  the  serious  question  which  arose 


PRADO.  2O3 

in  1852  between  our  respective  countries  relative  to 
the  Lobos  guano  islands  when  the  United  States 
held  that  they  did  not  belong  to  the  territory  and 
sovereignty  of  Peru,  and  that  as  they  had  been 
occupied  by  American  citizens  your  country  would 
uphold  these  parties  in  the  work  of  exploitation ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  after  a  lengthened  and  lively  controversy,  be- 
came convinced  of  the  right  which  Peru  had  on  her 
side,  it  at  once  spontaneously  put  an  end  to  the 
question  by  a  memorable  note  of  its  Secretary  of 
State,  recognizing  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  Peru 
over  those  islands  and  declaring  that  "he  makes 
this  avowal  with  the  greater  readiness,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  unintentional  injustice  done  to  Peru, 
under  a  transient  want  of  information  as  to  the  facts 
of  the  case."* 

When  powerful  nations,  laying  to  one  side  the 
instruments  of  oppression  and  violence  which  they 
have  in  their  hands,  rise  to  such  a  height  of  moral 
elevation,  universal  respect  and  sympathy  then  form 
the  unfading  halo  of  their  grandeur. 

And  thus  it  happened  with  the  United  States 
of  America;  and  Peru  has  now  the  honor  once 
more  to  express  its  consideration  and  thanks  for 
the  generous  friendship  and  constant  interest  with 
which  the  United  States  have  always  paid  attention 
to  everything  affecting  the  welfare  and  progress  of 
our  country. 

*Mr.  Everett  to  Sefior  Osma,  November  16,  1852. 


2O4  PERU. 

Peru,  which  is  the  depository  of  the  secrets  of 
wondrous  and  unknown  civilizations,  which  pos- 
sesses great  historical  traditions,  which  was  long  ago 
the  metropolis  of  this  continent,  and  then  a  Spanish 
colony ;  which  has  an  enormous  extent  of  territory, 
with  the  most  varied  and  wonderful  climates  and 
wealth ;  after  grievous  domestic  and  foreign  vicissi- 
tudes, has  firmly  taken  in  hand  the  great  work  of 
its  reorganization ;  has  acquired  the  knowledge  of 
its  public  and  private  duties ;  has  given  vigor  to  its 
character  and  to  its  spirit  of  enterprise ;  has  founded 
industries  and  labor  centers ;  foments  its  agriculture, 
mining,  and  commerce;  is  using  every  effort  to  foster 
public  instruction,  increasing  the  number  of  schools 
throughout  the  country  and  giving  civic  education 
to  its  children;  constructing  railroads  and  public 
works  of  national  and  future  interest;  opening  the 
minds  and  intelligence  of  its  people  to  the  currents 
of  culture  and  modern  progress,  and  endeavoring  to 
establish  a  solid  and  well-directed  public  administra- 
tion; her  fiscal  revenues,  her  trade,  and  the  general 
capitalization  of  fortunes  have  reached  in  a  few 
years  an  extraordinary  development  which  demon- 
strates the  potentiality  of  the  country;  enjoying  pub- 
lic peace,  she  is  using  every  effort  to  maintain  a 
policy  of  frank  understanding  and  friendship  with 
all  nations ;  and  sustains  the  principle  of  arbitration 
for  the  solution  of  all  her  international  controver- 
sies, thus  giving  evident  proof  of  the  rectitude  of 
her  sentiments,  and  that  the  only  settlements  which 


PRADO.  2O5 

she  defends  and  to  which  she  aspires  are  the  honor- 
able settlements  dictated  by  right. 

These  ideas  are  likewise  yours,  Mr.  Root.  And 
I  invite  you,  gentlemen,  to  unite  with  us  in  express- 
ing the  hope  that  the  principles  proclaimed  by  our 
enlightened  guest,  to  whom  we  to-day  offer  the  deep 
homage  of  our  respect  and  sympathy,  may  everlast- 
ingly rule  in  America. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  MINISTER;  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

I  should  be  insensible,  indeed,  were  I  not  to  feel 
deeply  grateful  for  your  courtesy,  your  hospitality, 
and  your  kindness;  nor  can  I  fail  to  be  gratified  by 
the  words  of  praise  which  you,  Mr.  Minister,  have 
spoken  of  my  beloved  country,  and  by  that  hearty 
and  unreserved  approval  with  which  you  have  met 
my  inadequate  expression  of  the  sentiments  that 
the  people  of  my  country  feel  towards  their  sister 
Republics  of  South  America.  The  words  which 
you  have  quoted,  sir,  do  represent  the  feelings  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  We  are  very 
far  from  living  up  to  the  standards  which  we  set 
for  ourselves,  and  we  know  our  own  omissions, 
our  failings,  and  our  errors;  we  know  them,  we 
deplore  them,  and  we  are  constantly  and  labo- 
riously seeking  to  remedy  them;  but  we  do  have 
underneath  as  the  firm  foundation  of  constitutional 
freedom  the  sentiments  which  were  expressed  in  the 
quotations  which  you  have  made. 

No  government  in  the  United  States  could 
maintain  itself  for  a  moment  if  it  violated  those  prin- 
ciples ;  no  act  of  unjust  aggression  by  the  United 
States  against  any  smaller  and  weaker  power  would 

206 


ROOT.  2O7 

be  forgiven  by  the  people  to  whom  the  Government 
is  responsible. 

Mr.  Minister,  my  journey  in  South  America  is 
drawing  to  a  close.  After  many  weeks  of  associa- 
tion with  the  distinguished  men  who  control  the 
affairs  of  the  South  American  Republics,  after  much 
observation  of  the  widely  different  countries  which 
I  have  visited,  it  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  that 
I  find,  in  reviewing  the  new  records  of  my  mind, 
that  the  impressions  with  which  I  came  to  South 
America  have  been  confirmed — the  impression  that 
there  is  a  new  day  dawning,  a  new  day  of  industry, 
of  enterprise,  of  prosperity,  of  wider  liberty,  and 
more  perfect  justice  among  the  people  of  the  South- 
ern Continent. 

I  find  that  the  difference  between  the  South 
America  of  to-day  and  the  South  America  as  the 
records  show  it  to  have  been  a  generation  ago  is  as 
wide  as  the  difference  marked  by  centuries  in  the 
history  of  Europe.  Why  is  it?  You  are  the  same 
people — not  so  much  better  than  your  fathers.  The 
same  fields  offered  to  the  hand  of  the  husbandman 
their  bounteous  harvests  then  as  now;  the  same 
incalculable  wealth  slept  in  your  mountains  then  as 
now;  the  same  streams  carried  down  from  your 
mountain  sides  the  immeasurable  power  ready  to 
the  hand  of  man  for  the  production  of  wealth  then 
as  now ;  the  same  ocean  washed  your  shores  ready 
to  bear  the  commerce  of  the  world  then  as  now. 
Whence  comes  the  change?  The  change  is  not 


2O8  PERU. 

in  material  things,  but  in  spiritual  things.  The 
change  has  come  because  in  the  slow  but  majestic 
progress  of  national  development  the  peoples  of 
South  America  have  been  passing  through  a  period 
of  progress  necessary  to  their  development,  neces- 
sary to  the  building  of  their  characters,  up  from 
a  stage  of  strife  and  discord,  of  individual  selfish- 
ness, of  unrestrained  ambition,  of  irresponsible 
power;  and  out  upon  the  broad  platform  of  love 
for  country,  of  national  spirit,  of  devotion  to  the 
ideal  of  justice,  of  ordered  liberty,  of  respect  for 
the  rights  of  others;  because  the  individual  char- 
acters of  the  peoples  of  the  South  American  Repub- 
lics have  been  developed  to  that  self-control,  to  that 
respect  for  justice  towards  their  fellow-men,  to  that 
regard  for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  others  which 
inhere  in  true  justice.  The  development  of  indi- 
vidual character  has  made  the  collective  character 
competent  for  self-government  and  the  mainte- 
nance of  that  justice,  that  ordered  liberty,  which 
gives  security  to  property,  security  to  the  fruits 
of  enterprise,  security  to  personal  liberty,  to  the 
pursuit  of  happiness,  to  the  home,  to  all  that  makes 
life  worth  living ;  and  under  the  fostering  care  of 
that  character,  individual  and  national,  the  hidden 
wealth  of  the  mountains  is  being  poured  out  to 
enrich  mankind;  under  the  fostering  care  of  that 
character,  individual  and  national,  new  life  is  com- 
ing to  the  fields,  to  the  mines,  to  the  factories, 
to  commerce,  to  all  material  interests  of  South 
America. 


ROOT.  209 

Mr.  Minister,  this  is  but  a  part  of  the  great 
world  movement  on  a  wider  field.  It  is  no  idle 
dream  that  the  world  grows  better  day  by  day.  We 
can  not  mark  its  progress  by  days  or  by  years  or  by 
generations,  but  marking  the  changes  by  the  cen- 
turies mankind  advances  steadily  from  brute  force, 
from  the  rule  of  selfishness  and  greed  towards  re- 
spect for  human  rights,  towards  desire  for  human 
happiness,  towards  the  rule  of  law  and  the  rule  of 
love  among  men.  My  own  country  has  become 
great  materially  because  it  has  felt  the  influence 
of  that  majestic  progress  of  civilization.  South 
America  is  becoming  great  materially  because  it, 
too,  is  feeling  the  influence  that  is  making  humanity 
more  human. 

We  can  do  but  little  in  our  day.  We  live  our 
short  lives  and  pass  away  and  are  forgotten.  All 
the  wealth,  prosperity,  and  luxury  with  which  we 
can  surround  ourselves  is  of  but  little  benefit  and 
little  satisfaction;  but  if  we — if  you  and  I — in  our 
offices  and  each  one  of  us  in  his  influence  upon  the 
public  affairs  of  his  day  can  contribute  ever  so 
little,  but  something,  toward  the  tendency  of  our 
countries,  the  tendency  of  our  race,  away  from 
greed  and  force  and  selfishness  and  wrong,  towards 
the  rule  of  order  and  love — if  we  can  do  something 
to  contribute  to  that  tendency  which  countless 
millions  are  working  out,  we  shall  not  have  lived 
in  vain. 

You  were  kind  enough  to  refer  to  an  incident  in 
the  diplomatic  history  of  the  United  States  and 

R 14 


2IO  PERU. 

Peru  when  my  own  country  recognized  its  error  in 
regard  to  the  Lobos  Islands  and  returned  them 
freely  and  cheerfully  to  their  rightful  owner.  I 
would  rather  have  the  record  of  such  acts  of  justice 
for  my  country's  fair  name  than  the  story  of  any 
battle  fought  and  won  by  her  military  heroes. 

We  can  not  fail  to  ask  ourselves  sometimes  the 
question,  What  will  be  the  end  of  our  civilization  ? 
Will  some  future  generation  say  of  us,  as  did  the 
Persian  poet,  "The  lion  and  the  lizard  keep  the  courts 
where  Jamshyd  gloried  and  drank  deep"?  Will 
the  palaces  that  we  build  be  the  problem  of  the 
antiquarians  in  some  future  century?  Will  all 
that  we  do  come  to  naught?  If  not — if  our  civili- 
zation is  not  to  meet  the  fate  of  all  that  have  gone 
before — it  will  be  because  we  have  builded  upon 
a  firm  foundation,  a  foundation  of  the  great  body 
of  the  plain,  the  common  people,  and  of  a  character 
formed  upon  the  principles  of  justice,  of  liberty,  and 
of  brotherly  love.  Our  one  hope  for  the  perpetuity 
of  our  civilization  is  that  quality  in  which  it  differs 
from  all  civilizations  that  have  gone  before — its 
substantial  basis.  I  find  that  here  in  Peru  you  are 
building  upon  that  firm  rock. 

I  find  that  here  individual  character  is  being  de- 
veloped so  that  the  people  of  Peru  are  collectively 
developing  the  necessary  and  essential  national 
character. 

I  find  that  the  riches  of  your  wonderful  land  are 
in  the  hands  of  a  people  who  are  worthy  to  enjoy 
them. 


ROOT.  211 

I  shall  take  away  with  me  from  Peru  not  only 
the  kindest  feelings  of  friendship  and  of  gratitude, 
but  the  highest  and  most  confident  hope  of  a  great 
and  glorious  future  for  the  people  to  whom  I  wish 
so  well. 

Mr.  Minister,  will  you  permit  me  the  honor  of 
asking  all  to  join  me  in  drinking  to  the  health 
of  His  Excellency  the  President  of  Peru? 


Speech  of  Senator  Barrios  at  an  Extraordinary 
Session  of  the  Peruvian  Senate  held  at  Lima 
September  /j,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

MR.  ROOT: 

The  Senate  of  Peru,  honored  by  your  official 
visit,  greets  you  as  the  representative  of  a  great 
democratic  people,  whose  juridical  methods,  founded 
on  liberty  and  equality,  are  a  model  for  all  American 
parliaments. 

I  consider  your  visit  to  our  young  Republic  as 
one  of  most  important  and  lasting  effect  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  continent.  When  these  peoples  have 
reached  the  power  and  development  which  the 
United  States  of  America  enjoys ;  when  the  citizens 
and  the  public  authorities  keep  within  the  bounds 
imposed  by  the  legitimate  demands  of  liberty  and 
justice  and  the  requirements  of  order  and  progress ; 
when  all  this  is  obtained  by  means  of  social  well- 
being,  of  economic  strength,  and  the  political  pre- 
dominance which  passes  beyond  the  native  land- 
then  the  legitimate  and  noble  influence  exercised 
on  the  life  of  other  peoples  is  based,  not  on  the  nar- 
row schemes  of  national  egotism,  but  on  the  broad 
and  humane  qualities  of  civilization. 

212 


BARRIOS.  213 

This  your  Government  has  understood  in  sending 
a  full  representation  to  these  Republics,  in  harmony 
with  the  American  idea  of  union  and  progress,  which 
the  illustrious  statesman  who  to-day  presides  over  the 
glorious  destinies  of  the  American  people — to  the 
admiration  and  respect  of  all — expounds  and  accom- 
plishes by  his  thoughtful  work. 

In  the  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century  may  be 
seen  in  this  part  of  the  world  a  collection  of  peoples 
who,  with  analogous  institutions,  must  fulfill  in  his- 
tory a  single  and  great  destiny.  This  part  which 
the  future  reserves  for  us  can  not  be  other  than  an 
effective  and  true  realization  of  democracy  at  home 
and  of  justice  in  international  affairs. 

Such  is  the  direction  in  which  Peru  is  aiming 
her  energies,  after  her  past  and  now  remote  vicissi- 
tudes. Such  is  the  ideal  that  animates  her  in  pur- 
suing her  efforts  for  reconstruction,  because  a  people 
without  an  aim  in  the  struggle  are  unworthy  of  vic- 
tory. "  It  is  no  more  than  a  scratch  on  the  ground," 
using  the  words  of  your  illustrious  President. 

As  the  principal  co-worker  for  the  exalted  inter- 
national policy  of  the  present  Government  of  the 
United  States,  receive,  Mr.  Root,  the  assurances 
of  the  highest  consideration  and  sympathy  of  the 
Peruvian  Senate. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  SENATORS: 

I  feel  most  keenly  the  great  honor  conferred 
upon  me  by  this  distinguished  legislative  body.  I 
thank  you  for  your  courtesy  personally ;  still  more 
I  thank  you  for  the  exhibition  of  friendship  and 
sympathy  with  my  country — an  exhibition  which 
corresponds  most  perfectly  to  the  spirit  and  pur- 
pose actuating  my  visit  to  Peru.  I  do  not  think, 
sir,  that  anyone  long  concerned  in  government  can 
fail  to  come  at  last  to  a  feeling  of  deep  solicitude 
for  the  welfare  of  the  people  whom  he  serves.  He 
must  come  to  feel  toward  them  somewhat  as  the 
lawyer  does  toward  his  clients,  as  the  physician  feels 
toward  his  patients,  as  the  clergyman  feels  toward 
his  parishioners — the  advocate,  the  friend  of  the 
people  whose  interests  are  committed  to  his  official 
action ;  and,  as  a  member  of  the  Government  of  a 
friendly  Republic,  I  feel  toward  you  that  sympathy 
which  comes  from  a  common  purpose,  from  engage- 
ment in  the  same  task,  from  being  actuated  by  the 
same  motive.  The  work  of  the  legislator  is  diffi- 
cult and  delicate.  Governments  can  not  make 

214 


ROOT.  215 

wealth;  governments  can  not  produce  enterprise, 
industry,  or  prosperity;  but  wise  government  can 
give  that  security  for  property,  for  the  fruits  of 
enterprise,  for  personal  liberty,  for  justice,  which 
opens  the  door  to  enterprise,  which  stimulates  in- 
dustry and  commercial  activity,  which  brings  capital 
and  immigration  to  the  shores  of  the  country  that 
is  but  scantily  populated,  and  which  makes  it  worth 
while  for  the  greatest  exertions  of  the  human  mind 
to  be  applied  to  the  development  of  the  resources 
of  the  country.  How  difficult  is  the  task!  As 
the  engineer  controlling  a  great  and  complicated 
machine  does  not  himself  furnish  the  motive  power 
or  do  the  work,  yet  by  a  wrong  turn  of  the  lever 
can  send  the  machine  to  ruin;  so  the  legislative 
body  can  not  itself  do  the  work  that  the  people 
must  do,  yet  by  ill-advised,  inconsiderate,  and  un- 
wise legislation  it  may  produce  incalculable  misery 
and  ruin.  The  wisdom  that  is  necessary,  the  unself- 
ishness that  is  necessary,  the  subordination  of  per- 
sonal and  selfish  interests  that  is  necessary,  has 
always  seemed  to  me  to  consecrate  a  legislative 
body  doing  its  duty  by  its  country  and  make  it 
worthy  not  only  of  respect  but  of  reverence. 

Mr.  President  and  Senators,  in  your  deliberations 
and  your  actions,  so  fraught  with  results  of  happi- 
ness or  disaster  for  the  people  of  your  beloved 
country,  we  of  the  North,  the  people  of  a  Republic 
long  bound  to  Peru  by  ties  of  real  and  sincere 


2l6  PERU. 

friendship,  follow  you  with  sympathy;  with  earn- 
est, sincere  desire  that  you  may  be  guided  by  wis- 
dom ;  that  you  may  work  in  simplicity  and  sincerity 
of  heart  for  the  good  of  your  people;  and  that  your 
labors  may  be  crowned  by  those  blessings  which 
God  gives  to  those  who  serve  His  children  faith- 
fully and  well. 


VII. 


Speeches  upon  the  installation  of  Mr.  Root  as 
a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  Political  and 
Administrative  Sciences  of  the  University 
of  San  Marcos,  Lima,  September  14,  1906. 


217 


Speech  of  Doctor  Luis  F.  Villardn,  Rector  of  the 
University. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

MR.  ROOT: 

The  University  of  San  Marcos  of  Lima  heartily 
shares  in  the  national  rejoicing  consequent  on  your 
visit  to  us,  and  greets  you  as  the  representative  of 
the  great  Republic  which  holds  so  many  claims 
to  the  high  esteem  and  consideration  of  the  Spanish- 
American  States  of  this  continent. 

Your  country,  indeed,  furnished  valuable  co- 
operation to  the  Spanish  colonies  in  the  establish- 
ment of  their  independence.  With  the  example  of 
your  own  emancipation,  forming  one  of  the  greatest 
events  of  history,  the  longing  for  liberty  deepened 
in  their  breasts.  It  gave  them  courage  in  the 
struggle  by  frank  declarations  of  friendship  and 
sympathy ;  bestowed  prestige  on  their  cause  by  rec- 
ognizing them  as  free  States  at  a  time  when  their 
emancipation  was  not  entirely  accomplished;  and, 
finally,  added  strength  to  their  victory  by  declaring 
before  the  whole  world  that  the  independence  and 
integrity  of  these  Republics  would  be  maintained  at 
all  costs. 

You,  the  Americans  of  the  North,  were  the 

219 


22O  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

founders  and  defenders  of  the  international  and  po- 
litical liberty  of  these  States.  Washington,  whose 
greatness  has  alone  been  given  worthy  expression 
in  the  inspired  words  of  Byron — Washington,  "the 
first,  the  last,  the  best  of  men" — and  the  glorious 
group  of  illustrious  citizens  who  accompanied  him 
in  his  work,  were  the  apostles  of  democracy  and 
the  republic.  The  American  Constitution  is  an  ad- 
mirable structure,  built  on  the  immovable  founda- 
tions of  justice  and  the  national  will,  which  will 
never  be  overthrown  by  social  or  political  upheavals. 
Half  a  century  ago,  Laboulaye,  the  illustrious 
professor  of  the  College  of  France,  said : 

Washington  has  founded  a  wise  and  well-organized 
Republic  and  has  bequeathed  to  history,  not  the  fatal 
spectacle  of  crime  triumphant,  but  a  beneficent  example 
of  patriotism  and  virtue.  In  less  than  fifty  years,  thanks 
to  the  powerful  influence  of  liberty,  an  empire  has  been 
raised  which  before  the  end  of  the  century  will  be  the 
greatest  State  of  the  civilized  world  and  which,  if  it 
remain  true  to  the  ideals  of  its  founders,  if  ambition  does 
not  check  the  era  of  its  fortune,  will  furnish  the  world 
the  spectacle  of  a  Republic  of  one  hundred  million  men, 
richer,  happier,  and  more  glorious  than  the  monarchies 
of  the  Old  World.  This  is  the  work  of  Washington! 

This  prophesy  has  been  fulfilled ;  that  half  cen- 
tury has  passed  by,  and  the  great  Republic  goes  on 
in  the  course  of  its  greatness  and  no  eye  can  dis- 
cern the  ultimate  reach  of  its  magnificence. 

To-day,  with  the  kind  name  of  sister,  it  sends  us, 
through  you,  its  worthy  messenger,  fresh  words  of 


VILLARAN.  221 

encouragement  and  invites  us  in  a  gracious  manner 
to  exert  ourselves  to  greater  efforts  in  the  work  of 
peace,  of  labor,  and  of  the  aggrandizement  of  the 
American  Continent. 
You  tell  us  that — 

Nowhere  in  the  world  has  this  progress  been  more 
marked  than  in  Latin  America.  Out  of  the  wrack  of 
Indian  fighting  and  race  conflicts  and  civil  wars,  strong 
and  stable  governments  have  arisen.  Peaceful  succes- 
sion in  accord  with  the  people's  will  has  replaced  the 
forcible  seizure  of  power  permitted  by  the  people's  indif- 
ference. Loyalty  to  country,  its  peace,  its  dignity,  its 
honor,  has  arisen  above  partizanship  for  individual 
leaders. 

You  add: 

We  wish  to  increase  our  prosperity,  to  expand  our 
trade,  to  grow  in  wealth,  in  wisdom,  and  in  spirit,  but 
our  conception  of  the  true  way  to  accomplish  this  is  not 
to  pull  down  others  and  profit  by  their  ruin,  but  to  help 
all  friends  to  a  common  prosperity  and  a  common  growth, 
that  we  may  all  become  greater  and  stronger  together. 

The  University  of  Lima,  an  important  factor  in 
the  national  life,  accepts  on  its  part,  and  in  harmony 
with  public  thought,  your  noble  invitation. 

This  University,  the  distinguished  creation  of  the 
great  Spanish  monarchs,  proud  of  its  noble  lineage 
of  five  centuries,  jealous  of  its  glories,  believes  it  to 
be  its  duty  and  considers  it  a  special  honor  to  offer 
you,  the  illustrious  messenger,  the  deep  thinker, 
and  the  highest  co-worker  in  the  Government  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  the  peacemaker  of  the  world, 
a  post  of  honor. 


222  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

The  Faculty  of  Political  and  Administrative 
Sciences,  founded  thirty  years  ago  by  the  distin- 
guished President  Manuel  Pardo,  and  organized  by 
the  eminent  public  writer  Pradier  Fode're" — this  Fac- 
ulty, which  professes,  without  limitations,  the  doc- 
trines of  international  and  political  law  as  pro- 
claimed in  your  country,  is  the  one  which  with 
just  right  offers  you  this  University  emblem,  which 
I  am  pleased  to  place  in  the  hands  of  Your  Excel- 
lency [addressing  the  President  of  Peru,  and  hand- 
ing him  the  medal  of  the  University]  that  you  may 
kindly  deliver  it  to  our  illustrious  guest. 


Speech  of  Doctor  Ramdn  Ribeyro,  Professor  of  the 
University  and  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Political 
and  Administrative  Sciences. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

EXCELLENCY;  MR.  RECTOR;  GENTLEMEN: 

The  presence  among  us  of  the  eminent  stateman, 
the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  is  in- 
deed of  great  significance  and  surpassing  impor- 
tance in  the  course  of  our  political  life  as  a  singular 
and  unmistakable  token  of  friendship  offered  by 
that  powerful  Republic  and  as  a  generous  effort  to 
create  between  the  nations  of  America  a  stable 
regime  of  true  understanding  and  concord. 

This  work  of  peace,  which  is  linked  with  the 
unvarying  respect  for  the  rights  of  all  without  re- 
gard to  their  extent  of  power,  with  the  close  union 
of  their  interests,  and  with  a  political  unity  of  pur- 
pose, which  springs  from  the  historical  origin  of 
the  Republics  of  America  and  the  analogy  of  their 
institutions,  is  outlined  in  a  masterly  manner  in  the 
address  which  our  illustrious  guest  recently  deliv- 
ered before  the  Congress  of  American  Delegates 
convened  at  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

223 


224  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

The  general  idea  which  he  has  expressed  therein 
of  the  principles  of  democratic  regime,  of  its  severe 
trials  and  accidental  mistakes,  of  the  virtues  which 
sustain  popular  government  and  of  the  public  edu- 
cation that  must  prepare  and  secure  it,  reveal  to  us 
the  secret  of  the  prosperity  and  welfare  of  the  most 
flourishing  and  freest  Republic  that  has  ever  ex- 
isted, and  how  it  has  reached  the  preponderant  rank 
it  now  occupies  among  nations,  and  its  unquestion- 
able influence  and  prestige,  without  at  the  same 
time  ceasing  to  be  essentially  pacific. 

This  is  a  noble  purpose  of  our  powerful  sister  of 
the  North,  who  with  a  persevering  and  ever  stead- 
fast persistency  presses  on,  endeavoring  to  combine 
continental  interests  lacking  a  sufficient  cohesion, 
and  promote  their  common  development,  thus  to 
reach  "the  complete  rule  of  justice  and  peace  among 
nations  in  lieu  of  force  and  war." 

In  the  severe  simplicity  of  these  words  of  Mr. 
Root  the  program  of  his  mission  of  friendship  and 
advice  is  condensed,  which  will  stimulate  the  com- 
mon aim  of  creating  a  stable  concert  of  interests 
carefully  and  duly  appreciated,  on  which  is  to  be 
established  the  uniform  rule  of  our  common  exist- 
ence, the  rule  of  justice,  never  subservient  to  private 
and  selfish  convenience ;  a  barrier  against  the  arbi- 
trary and  brutal  decisions  of  force,  nearly  always 
dissembled  under  plausible  forms  and  motives  of 
international  tradition,  which  has  established  right 
upon  the  consummated  fact. 


RIBEYRO.  225 

There  exists  a  fundamental  sentiment  which 
opposes  the  cumulus  of  violence  and  usurpation, 
which  in  a  great  degree  constitutes  historic  inter- 
national law  and  corrects  the  deductions  made  from 
purely  speculative  theories,  a  sentiment  we  accept 
without  demur,  and  which  is  asserted  like  the 
axioms  that  serve  as  the  basis  and  foundation  of 
all  reasoning  and  as  a  rule  inspiring  human  actions. 

This  concept  is  that  of  a  law  of  coexistence,  an 
intuition  of  the  universal  conscience,  which  all 
human  society  upholds  on  account  of  the  sole  fact 
of  its  existence. 

But  the  completely  empiric  and  egotistical  man- 
ner in  which  nations  have  understood  and  applied 
the  right  of  sovereign  independence  in  their  out- 
ward dealings  has,  up  to  the  present  time,  been  the 
almost  insuperable  obstacle  to  the  universal  estab- 
lishment of  a  rule  of  justice  which  governs  in  a 
permanent  and  uniform  manner  the  concourse  of 
interests,  that  have  dictated  the  law  instead  of  being 
subject  to  it ;  each  state  following  one  of  its  own 
modeling,  in  accordance  with  the  power  it  holds  and 
the  ambitions  it  is  thereby  enabled  to  pursue. 

This  tendency,  whether  explicit  or  covert,  hardly 
restrained  by  the  formalities  of  modern  civilization, 
which  seldom  succeed  in  masking  the  painful  reality, 
has  created  the  singular  spectacle  witnessed  at  the 
present  time — that  is,  the  undefined  aggravation  of 
a  military  situation  which  absorbs  the  greater  part 
of  the  resources  of  nations,  wrung  from  the  labor 
and  welfare  of  humanity. 

R 15 


226  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

The  constant  fear  of  armed  aggression  in  which 
they  live  has  brought  about  political  alliances  of  a 
purely  transitory  character,  which  assure  nothing 
and,  in  truth,  mean  nothing  but  the  mutual  imputa- 
tion of  violence  and  outrage,  unhappily  but  too  well 
demonstrated  as  justifiable  motives  for  apprehension 
by  reason  of  the  ominous  antecedents  of  an  interna- 
tional regime  founded  on  the  supremacy  of  power. 

This  precarious  guaranty,  the  fruit  of  an  un- 
steady and  purely  political  combination  which  may 
undergo  the  most  unexpected  alterations,  can  not 
assure  a  stable  situation,  because  it  is  not  in  itself 
the  constitution  of  a  common,  strong,  and  com- 
manding law;  but,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  distrust 
of  the  efficacy  of  the  latter  and  a  certain  traditional 
disdain  for  a  humane  and  peaceful  solution  of  inter- 
national affairs. 

When  the  anxiety  of  danger  or  an  unforeseen 
obstacle  does  not  prevent  recourse  to  arms,  war 
breaks  out  if  the  motive  is  simply  the  securing  of 
an  advantage  sustained  by  a  military  power  which 
the  country  chosen  as  the  object  of  the  aggression 
can  not  forcibly  check. 

True  it  is  that  nowadays  wars  are  less  frequent 
and  more  humane  in  the  manner  they  are  waged 
than  heretofore,  but  their  causes  are  ever  the  same, 
and  the  intervals  between  them  are  only  due  to  the 
larger  number  of  military  powers,  now  than  form- 
erly, and  to  the  fear  of  consequent  complications  of 
political  interests  which  it  is  hazardous  to  provoke. 


RIBEYRO.  227 

Treaties  of  peace  since  the  seventeenth  century, 
which  recorded  the  birth  of  the  modern  law  of  na- 
tions, have  on  some  occasions  passed  through  real 
transformation  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  evolution 
of  human  societies,  which  favor  equilibrium,  not 
as  established  by  frail  or  artificial  alliances  or  by 
the  combinations  of  the  powerful,  but  by  its  eth- 
nical factors  and  the  amplitude  of  the  national  life 
based  primarily  on  the  progress  of  its  institutions, 
in  the  ever-increasing  intervention  of  the  people  in 
their  own  affairs  and  the  reality  and  solidity  of  its 
political  and  civil  liberty. 

Each  one  of  these  suspensions  of  the  blind  and 
brutal  recourse  to  arms  has  permitted  the  creation 
and  duration  of  the  social  elements  of  self-preser- 
vation and  internal  liberty,  which  have  weakened 
the  principle  of  state  and  served  as  a  counterpoise 
to  the  purely  political  motives  which  have  almost 
always  been  the  stimulus  of  war. 

The  definite  establishment  of  an  international 
juridical  organ  sufficiently  authorized  and  efficacious 
in  its  action  is  yet  a  future  event.  Law  in  this 
respect  has  not  as  yet  gone  beyond  the  limits  of  a 
sphere  that  is  at  most  one  of  pure  speculation,  a 
worthy  ideal,  it  is  true,  but  one  which  in  actuality 
has  only  succeeded  in  modifying  the  forms  of  vio- 
lence by  recording  in  the  customary  code  of  nations 
a  few  rules  to  lessen  the  brutality  of  the  action, 
without  eliminating  the  arbitrariness  inherent  to 
the  sovereignty  of  arms. 


228  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

It  is  not  necessary,  gentlemen,  to  call  to  mind 
what  European  conferences  and  congresses  there 
have  been,  which,  even  though  they  gained  most 
important  ends  of  continental  policy  and  reconcilia- 
tion, never  had  a  juridical  foundation  or  purpose, 
or  proclaimed,  except  in  a  limited  and  casual  way, 
rules  of  common  law,  which  if  they  did  not  sup- 
press might  remove  the  causes  of  conflict  and  solve 
them  by  other  means  than  a  call  to  arms. 

The  generous  efforts  of  worthy  men  of  honored 
memory  that  have  militated  in  the  parliaments  of 
Europe  have  had  no  better  result.  Cobden  and 
Richard  in  England,  Mancini  in  Italy,  Bredius  in 
Holland,  Jonassen  in  Sweden,  Couvreur  and  Thon- 
issen  in  Belgium,  strove  by  their  eloquence  to 
influence  the  sovereigns  by  a  vote  of  the  popular 
parliaments  to  patronize  the  principle  of  arbitration 
instead  of  the  powers  of  Europe,  but  although  in 
the  majority  of  cases  such  a  vote  was  passed  it  is 
easy  to  explain  why  it  proved  practically  futile,  by 
reason  of  the  causes  we  have  briefly  outlined. 

They  were  all  vain  efforts ;  useless  attempts  to 
remove  the  heavy  load  formed  during  the  passage 
of  centuries  by  the  restless  warrior  who  bequeathed 
to  us  the  worship  of  might  as  the  height  of  prestige 
and  glory,  linked  to  feats  of  arms  and  perpetuated 
by  the  erection  of  showy  monuments  stained  with 
blood  and  erected  upon  the  human  remains  of  a 
battlefield. 

The  ancestral  skepticism  which  this  continuous 
and  onerous  inheritance  engraved  on  the  mind  of 


RIBEYRO.  229 

modern  societies  and  on  that  of  the  heads  of  na- 
tions with  respect  to  the  principles  of  reason  and 
the  rule  of  law  in  the  solution  of  conflicts  has  only 
been  able  to  be  counteracted  by  the  fullness  and 
security  of  existence  which  nurtures  the  human 
heart  and  by  the  noble  affections  that  sustain  and 
make  labor  fruitful,  which  can  exist  and  prosper 
only  under  the  shadow  of  the  peaceful  reign  of 
justice. 

In  the  Old  World  this  transformation  is  slow 
and  operates  in  accordance  with  the  measure  of 
progress  attained  by  public  liberties  and  popular 
government ;  and  it  is  on  this  account  that  we  find 
so  far  submitted  to  a  lawful  solution  solely  disputes 
of  lesser  importance,  few  and  far  between,  and  sub- 
jected to  limitations  and  restrictions,  which  leave 
the  sovereign  exercise  of  force  almost  intact. 

There  is  no  effort  more  advanced  and  laudable 
tending  to  the  consolidation  of  peace  and  its  effect- 
ive guaranty  than  the  Conference  of  The  Hague, 
convoked  in  order  to  establish  arbitration  as  the 
normal  measure  for  preventing  conflicts  and  for  a 
general  agreement  for  disarming.  If,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  results  of  that  almost  universal  inter- 
national assembly  were  scanty — for  the  only  ones 
excluded  therefrom  were  the  American  States  of 
Latin  race — on  the  other  hand,  its  closure  had  hardly 
been  effected  when  there  broke  out  in  the  Far 
East  that  violent  storm  of  blood  that  gave  rise  to 
eloquent  commentaries. 


230  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

Under  fairer  and  happier  auspices  were  the  new 
nations  of  America,  with  their  vast  future,  founded 
on  the  colonial  groups. 

Amongst  them  stands  out  in  prominence  the 
Federal  Republic  of  the  United  States,  which  even 
if  in  its  first  days  was  the  sure  home  of  liberty  and 
the  field  of  action  of  a  prolific  activity,  which  leads 
to  welfare  and  fortune,  accomplished  the  perfect 
embodiment  of  those  benefits  which  are  the  insep- 
arable patrimony  of  man. 

Its  organization,  which  is  as  sound  and  strong 
as  its  political  constitution  is  free  from  blemish, 
has  bestowed  on  it  a  consistent  and  rapid  growth, 
which  assures  it  the  respect  and  the  sympathy  ac- 
cruing from  greatness,  reached  as  the  result  of  its 
own  efforts  in  a  peaceful  work,  in  which  it  perse- 
veres and  daily  becomes  of  greater  importance  in 
the  destinies  of  the  world. 

Under  the  kind  influence  of  its  free  institutions, 
the  international  policy  of  the  United  States  has 
been  developed  in  a  sphere  free  from  political 
tributes,  of  traditions  of  force,  for  the  rulers  of 
that  nation  have  ever  adopted  as  their  guide  of  ac- 
tion a  respectful  friendship  with  all,  without  danger- 
ous alliances  or  compromises,  and  a  zealous  care  to 
avoid  any  foreign  policy  that  might  perturb  a  regime 
and  ideals  of  existence  which  formed  their  peculiar 
character  and  established  the  fellowship  of  the 
American  family. 

This  thought  is  to  be  found  in  the  political  testa- 
ment of  Washington,  which,  if  in  1823  it  appeared 


RIBEYRO.  231 

for  the  first  time  in  an  official  message,  was  not 
without  having  previously  received  approbation 
and  confirmation  of  two  former  Presidents  of  the 
Union. 

There  is  no  necessity  to  enter  into  an  explana- 
tion of  the  circumstantial  origin  and  character  of 
this  policy  inaugurated  before  the  whole  world  by 
President  Monroe  upon  a  memorable  occasion 
which  the  Spanish-American  nations  can  not  and 
have  not  the  right  to  forget,  because  it  is  true  that 
the  proclamation  of  this  law  has  carried  out  to  its 
legitimate  consequences  the  idea  it  contained  when- 
ever the  occasion  for  its  application  has  arisen. 

"It  was  invoked,"  said  Secretary  Fish,  "in  1870 
on  the  occasion  of  the  seeming  danger  of  Cuba  from 
Europe ;  it  was  applied  when  an  identical  danger 
threatened  Yucatan ;  it  was  embodied  in  the  treaty 
between  Great  Britian  and  the  United  States  with 
respect  to  Central  America;  it  was  successfully  ex- 
ercised at  the  time  when  the  United  States  frustrated 
the  attempt  to  establish  European  domination  in 
Nicaragua  under  the  pretext  of  affording  protection 
to  the  Indians  of  Mosquitos ;  and  operated  with  like 
effect  in  preventing  the  establishment  in  Mexico  of 
a  European  dynasty." 

It  was  ever  so,  and  was  subsequently  upheld  by 
Presidents  Polk,  Adams,  Grant,  Cleveland,  and  their 
co-workers  in  the  Department  of  State,  outlining 
the  fixed,  unvarying  course  of  a  policy  of  conti- 
nental predominance  which  tended  to  conciliate 


232  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

interests  analogous  in  more  respects  than  one,  and 
to  strengthen  ties  of  union  within  the  liberty  of 
action  and  the  bounds  of  mutual  respect,  whence 
there  was  to  arise  a  common  law,  universal  in  its 
essence  and  meaning,  American  in  its  origin  and 
in  its  immediate  effects. 

In  this  way,  likewise,  it  has  been  applied  by  the 
illustrious  Roosevelt,  the  present  President  of  the 
Union,  who,  in  powerful  freedom  of  speech  and 
thought,  has  on  more  than  one  occasion  pointed 
out  the  course  he  has  formed,  the  evolution  he  has 
prepared  in  the  moral  and  material  interests  of 
America,  the  principle  of  self-preservation  and  prog- 
ress, embodied  in  that  doctrine,  which  is  the  only 
one  capable  of  assuring  concord  and  peace  on  a 
basis  of  right  by  individual  effort  and  indomitable 
energy  to  uphold  it. 

These  are  ideas,  it  will  be  said,  for  opportune 
application  in  some  cases  and  eventual  in  others,  as 
has  indeed  already  been  stated ;  but  if  this  be  not 
the  occasion  to  discuss  it,  it  is  at  all  events  proper 
to  assert  that  this  doctrine,  so  happily  and  persist- 
ently upheld,  has  permitted  the  autonomous  con- 
solidation of  the  young  American  Republics,  the 
creation  of  concordant  interests,  and  has  paved  the 
way,  if  not  for  the  transformation  of  the  concept 
of  rights,  always  fallaciously  invoked  in  every  work 
of  iniquity  and  usurpation,  at  least  the  manner  in 
which  it  may  and  should  be  developed,  protected 
from  dangers  and  artifices. 


RIBEYRO.  233 

The  natural  consequence  of  this  system  was  the 
periodical,  ever  more  frequent,  gathering  together 
of  the  American  Republics  in  congresses  of  dele- 
gates which,  concerting  interests,  stimulating  inter- 
change and  by  adopting  common  rules  of  procedure 
with  regard  to  identical  necessities,  should  establish 
a  more  solid  and  more  permanent  alliance  than  those 
entered  into  by  a  merely  political  compact. 

From  their  origin  the  Pan-American  Confer- 
ences must  be  distinguished  from  others  previously 
convened  in  this  respect;  and  it  was  on  the  same 
account  that  the  one  projected  by  Bolivar  failed 
at  the  outset  of  the  independence  of  the  Spanish 
colonies  of  America. 

The  Congress  of  Panama  failed  because  it  looked 
towards  a  political  alliance  the  opportunity  for  which 
had  passed,  and  because  of  the  inconsistency  of  its 
elements  which  hardly  represented  states,  consti- 
tuted by  the  disorder  and  confusion  inseparably 
linked  with  every  sudden  and  radical  transition. 

The  Congress  of  Washington  alone,  with  a  well- 
defined  program,  genuinely  shaped  its  course  towards 
the  attainment  of  the  object  desired. 

That  Congress  opened  under  the  broad  ideas 
necessary  that  "the  confidence,  respect,  and  friend- 
ship of  the  nations  there  represented  might  be  per- 
manent." This  was  no  doubt  the  intention  of  its 
promoters,  as  is  seen  from  the  significant  ideas 
expressed  by  its  president,  James  G.  Elaine,  in  his 
opening  address,  when  he  said  that  the  delegates 


234  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

to  whom  he  addressed  himself  could  well  show  the 
world  the  spectacle  of  a  conference  of  seventeen  in- 
dependent American  States,  convened  for  the  bene- 
fit of  peace  and  progress — a  conference  that  would 
not  tolerate  any  tendency  towards  conquest,  but  one 
that  proposed  to  develop  common  sympathies  among 
the  nations  of  America  as  broad  as  their  continents 
were  vast. 

It  thus  happened  that,  with  the  concurring  vote 
of  the  North  American  Delegates,  the  recommen- 
dations of  the  committee  on  general  welfare  were 
adopted  as  the  basis  of  a  treaty  of  arbitration  that 
was  intended  to  institute  compulsory  arbitration, 
without  any  further  restriction  than  that  referring 
to  individual  independence,  which,  in  the  judgment 
of  some  of  the  interested  parties,  might  be  involved 
in  dispute. 

This  resolution  and  its  complement  (passed  at 
the  session  of  April  18,  1890,  at  the  instigation  of 
the  Argentine  Delegates),  concerning  the  elimina- 
tion from  American  public  law  of  the  principle  of 
compulsory  cession  of  territory  under  the  pressure 
of  arms,  were  never  carried  into  effect.  Matters  of 
secondary  importance  were  taken  up  and  acted  on 
intentionally,  so  that  the  former  might,  as  the  time 
ran  on,  be  left  in  their  former  condition,  without 
attaining  their  more  exalted  and  grander  object- 
that  of  establishing  a  juridical  rule  that  would  serve 
as  a  secure  and  permanent  foundation  for  the  con- 
ciliation and  solution  of  all  conflicting  interests  and 
pretensions. 


RIBEYRO.  235 

The  Congress  of  Mexico  resulted  no  better  in 
this  respect,  for  if  thereat  a  formal  agreement  was 
reached  among  ten  of  the  assisting  Republics  to 
resort  to  compulsory  arbitration,  and  among  four- 
teen to  adhere  to  the  Convention  of  The  Hague,  the 
want  of  general  accord  does  not  permit  of  its  being 
considered  as  an  advance,  but  only  as  a  transaction 
that  does  not  establish  a  uniform  rule. 

Finally,  the  Congress  that  has  just  closed  at  Rio 
de  Janeiro,  in  accordance  with  its  program  upon  such 
a  vital  subject,  has  confirmed  the  adherence  of  the 
American  Republics  to  the  principle  of  arbitration, 
expressing  the  hope  that  at  the  next  conference  at 
The  Hague  a  general  convention  of  arbitration  may 
be  agreed  upon,  that  may  be  approved  and  put  in 
force  by  all  countries. 

The  deflection  of  the  current  of  opinion  that 
arises  from  individual  and  fundamental  necessities, 
and  from  sources  as  fully  authorized  as  those  which 
in  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  gave  rise  to  the 
first  impulse  of  the  idea  of  approximation  and  con- 
cord, shows  that  the  same  difficulties  have  been 
encountered  as  in  the  former  conferences  in  reaching 
a  general  agreement  that  will  guarantee  peace  in 
America  and  permit  her  Republics  to  devote  them- 
selves to  consolidate  their  institutions  and  exploit 
for  the  benefit  of  civilization  their  rich  domains, 
which  are  indiscriminately  open  to  the  activity, 
capital,  and  ingenuity  of  all  mankind. 

It  is  not  opportune  to  state  what  this  insuperable 


236  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

obstacle  may  be,  but  it  is  proper  to  recount  the  fact 
that  arrangements  of  arbitration  have  been  made  by 
Peru,  both  before  and  after  the  Congress  of  Mexico, 
either  as  an  article  of  a  treaty,  or  concerning  con- 
crete questions,  with  the  very  Republics  which  at 
that  Congress  did  not  sign  the  agreement  of  com- 
pulsory arbitration. 

In  our  country  we  have  always  given  frank  and 
sincere  adherence  to  this  exalted  principle,  which  is 
in  such  perfect  accord  with  human  dignity  and  which 
contributes  in  such  an  efficacious  manner  to  preserve 
and  further  the  conquests  of  civilization,  seeking  to 
banish  the  miseries  and  misfortunes  of  war,  since 
men  and  nations  have  to  contend  with  so  many 
others  in  the  rough  path  of  life. 

It  should  be  remembered  here  that  for  some  time 
back  Peru  has  made  sincere  and  disinterested  efforts 
to  establish  the  close  union  of  the  Republics  of 
America,  to  draw  together  and  harmonize  their  in- 
terests, so  that  by  reciprocal  aid  they  might  even 
guard  against  dangers  that  might  threaten  their 
autonomy  and  independence.  The  reunion  in  Lima 
in  1848  and  1864  of  two  congresses  of  plenipoten- 
tiaries shows  this,  as  well  as  the  attitude  of  her  rep- 
resentatives in  those  assemblages. 

In  the  latter  of  these,  with  a  program  as  broad 
as  that  contained  in  the  Peruvian  circular  of  January, 
1864,  two  purposes  as  advantageous  as  they  were 
noble  were  borne  in  mind — the  adoption  of  uniform 
rules  to  settle  questions  of  territorial  boundaries,  the 


RIBEYRO.  237 

principal  if  not  the  only  cause  of  discord  among  our 
countries,  and  the  abolition  of  war  by  recourse  to 
judicial  arbitration. 

In  both  congresses  the  noble  purpose  that  led 
to  their  convocation  was  frustrated  beforehand  by 
the  small  number  of  nations  represented  at  them, 
and  because  of  their  political  tendency  towards  a 
federative  alliance  that  must  meet  with  insuperable 
difficulties. 

The  present  occasion  does  not  permit  of  specify- 
ing the  other  causes — some  subsistent,  others  ante- 
cedent— that  must  prevent  the  realization  of  the 
idea  that  was  developing  in  the  minds  of  these  peo- 
ples, and  that  made  itself  apparent  from  time  to 
time,  like  a  constant  hope  for  a  situation  of  com- 
mon security,  of  loyal  and  mutual  confidence  by 
reason  of  the  certainty  of  arriving  in  every  dispute 
at  an  impartial  judicial  solution.  But  it  is  proper 
to  say  that  even  if  the  Congress  of  1864  did  not 
have  practical  results  it  nevertheless  gave  the  first 
and  effective  impulse  to  the  principle  of  arbitration 
as  a  rule  of  common  law  among  the  peoples  of 
America ;  it  condensed  in  the  various  expressions  of 
its  program  the  progressive  movement  that  former 
vague  and  ill-defined  projects  had  hinted  at,  but 
which  in  truth  may  be  said  to  contain  a  prophecy  of 
the  future. 

Despair,  however,  has  not  overcome  us.  We 
have  assisted  and  will  assist  at  these  assemblages 
with  the  firm  and  honest  conviction  that,  if  they 


238  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

have  not  up  to  the  present  entirely  attained  the 
principal  and  exalted  aim  that  has  led  to  their 
periodic  convention,  they  have  produced  a  more 
frequent  and  friendly  contact  which  will  result  in 
throwing  down  the  barriers  raised  by  unfounded  mis- 
givings— hidden  prejudices — which  are  and  ought 
ever  to  be  foreign  to  the  autonomous  origin  and 
international  policy  of  these  peoples. 

When  we  came  to  hold  a  place  among  nations 
we  severed  ourselves  from  the  past.  Ill  prepared 
for  the  arduous  task  of  our  political  organization 
and  unavoidable  and  exacting  requirements  of  self- 
government,  we  had  to  undergo  great  hardships, 
incessant  struggles,  and  unfortunate  reverses.  This 
situation  (almost  universal  among  the  Spanish- 
American  Republics  for  more  than  half  a  century) 
produced  their  temporary  isolation  and  a  certain 
military  supremacy  occasioned  by  the  war  of  inde- 
pendence and  their  internal  disturbances.  This,  in 
truth,  is  the  only  thing  that  can  explain  the  aggres- 
sive inclination  and  the  preference  among  them  for 
armed  strife  in  heedlessness  or  disdain  for  the  pacific 
settlement  of  their  differences. 

In  fact,  nothing  should  reasonably  be  able  to 
occasion  a  bloody  encounter  between  peoples  who 
have  not,  day  by  day,  to  defend  their  right  to  exist, 
who  possess  a  territory  vaster  and  richer  than  is 
necessary  to  fully  develop  the  national  life,  who 
were  born  free  from  the  original  task  of  conquest, 
from  political  complications  of  a  historically  turbu- 
lent and  difficult  past,  and  who  have  not  known  the 


RIBEYRO.  239 

necessities  of  a  continental  equilibrium  changeable 
solely  at  the  will  of  the  strong  without  protection 
for  the  weak. 

This  cycle  of  disturbances  in  the  interior  and 
mistrusts  in  the  exterior  seems  to  have  passed  now, 
and  let  us  hope  that  it  has  forever.  But  it  is  neces- 
sary to  say  this :  In  order  that  this  work  of  peace 
and  harmony  may  be  accomplished  and  consoli- 
dated, it  is  necessary,  above  all,  to  exclude  from 
these  gatherings  destined  to  promote  it  any  political 
motive  the  subtle  and  cunning  influence  whereof, 
always  changeable  in  its  designs,  is  the  constant 
obstacle  to  progress  and  efficient  action  of  law 
among  nations,  and,  if  law  be  not  double-faced,  no 
honest  motive,  no  legitimate  interest,  can  fear  to 
be  examined  under  the  light  of  justice. 

Very  little  or  nothing  will  be  accomplished,  in 
fact,  with  agreements  to  adjust  and  settle  interests 
that  are  always  in  a  state  of  transformation  and 
eventual  conflict,  unless,  first  of  all,  the  unshifting 
foundation  be  established,  alike  for  all  and  a  pre- 
server of  peace — unless  this  supreme  and  dominant 
interest  of  a  judicial  solution  be  efficaciously  safe- 
guarded, which  is  the  only  one  worthy  of  mankind 
and  capable  of  insuring  its  welfare  and  progress. 

The  misery  and  unrest  of  armed  peace,  the  deep 
abyss  which  ruthlessly  swallows  up  the  energies  and 
tender  resources  of  their  sparce  populations,  are  in 
poor  keeping  with  the  most  vital  necessities  of  our 
young  Republics. 


240  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

No  progressive  and  stable  situation  can  be  con- 
ceived for  new  peoples  wherein  nearly  everything 
yet  remains  to  be  done,  if  it  be  not  founded  upon  a 
rule  of  law  that  secures  the  benefits  attained  from 
order  and  labor ;  if  the  subsistence,  the  meaning,  and 
the  good  faith  of  international  agreements  are  to 
have  no  other  interpreter  than  violence.  We  must 
not  be  left  exposed  to  the  blindness  of  anger,  the 
injurious  councils  of  ambition  stimulated  by  military 
preparation,  which  destroys  in  an  hour  the  fruits  of 
long  years  of  labor  and  sacrifice,  of  loyalty,  and  of 
the  unvarying  respect  for  the  rights  of  others.  It  is 
necessary,  above  all,  that  this  judicial  redress,  essen- 
tially noble  and  humane,  shall  be  a  staunch  bulwark 
against  popular  fickleness,  as  inconsiderate  as  it  is 
feverish,  in  which  sentiment  governs  and  almost 
always  spurs  on  governments  to  the  fatality  of  war 
on  account  of  futile  and  insufficient  causes,  so  that 
horrors  and  misfortunes  are  loosed  that  must  de- 
volve upon  the  people  themselves. 

If  we  protect  ourselves  from  idealisms,  if  we  are 
never  to  patronize  the  cowardly  and  inert  peace  of 
him  who  refuses  to  defend  his  existence  and  the 
interests  that  make  the  human  heart  beat  more  vio- 
lently, nevertheless  we  do  believe  in  peace  lawfully 
organized,  in  the  magistracy  of  justice  as  a  common 
and  preexisting  rule,  applicable  to  all  disputes  such 
as  it  is  sought  to  organize  by  the  declaration  and 
uniform  agreement  to  submit  to  arbitration. 

In  this  work  of  common  security  and  prosperity 


RIBEYRO.  241 

that  embraces  the  future  of  this  continent  and  that, 
once  carried  into  effect,  will  signalize  the  most  ef- 
fective and  greatest  advance  in  the  law  of  nations, 
a  prominent  part  belongs  to  the  great  Republic 
that  has  staked  her  power  and  fortune  on  peace. 
In  it  we  have  endeavored  to  cooperate  in  good 
faith  and  without  reserve,  and  in  it,  also,  the  ardent 
sympathy  and  the  boundless  confidence  of  the 
Peruvian  people  will  follow. 

And  since  the  unmerited  honor  has  fallen  to  my 
lot  of  addressing  myself  on  this  memorable  occasion 
to  the  distinguished  personage,  to  the  high  dignitary 
of  the  nation  which  in  the  world  represents  the  great- 
est intensity  of  national  life  on  account  of  the  unre- 
stricted development  of  the  human  faculties  and 
the  most  certain  and  practical  evolution  of  law 
among  nations,  I  believe  that  I  interpret  the  unani- 
mous sentiment  of  my  colleagues  and  of  my  coun- 
try, furnishing  him  complete  evidence  of  our  cordial 
adherence  and  of  our  faith  in  the  work  intrusted  to 
his  talents  and  to  his  high  character. 

R 1 6 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.   PRESIDENT,   MR.    RECTOR,    AND  GENTLEMEN 
OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  SAN  MARCOS: 

I  am  deeply  sensible  of  the  great  honor  which 
you  confer  upon  me,  an  honor  coming  from  this 
primate  of  the  universities  of  the  New  World;  an 
honor  which  receives  me  into  the  company  of  men 
learned,  devoted  to  science,  the  disciples  of  truth- 
men  eminent  in  the  republic  of  letters.  I  am  the 
more  appreciative  of  this  emblem  because  I  am 
myself  the  son  of  a  college  professor,  born  within 
the  precincts  of  a  learned  institution  and  all  my  life 
closely  associated  with  higher  education  in  the 
United  States  of  America.  But,  I  realize,  sir,  that 
my  personality  plays  no  considerable  part  in  the 
ceremony  of  to-day.  Happy  is  he  who  comes,  by 
whatever  chance,  to  stand  as  the  representative  of  a 
great  cause;  as  the  representative  of  ideas  which 
conciliate  the  feelings  and  arouse  the  enthusiasm 
of  men ;  for  the  cause  sheds  light  upon  his  person, 
however  small,  and  the  honor  of  his  purpose  reflects 
honor  on  him. 

It  has  been  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  that  I 
have  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  learned  rector  and 
professor  of  this  university  so  just  and  so  high  an 
242 


ROOT.  243 

estimate  of  the  contributions  made  by  my  country 
to  the  cause  of  ordered  liberty  and  justice  in  the 
world.  I  feel  that  what  has  been  said  here  to-day 
is  of  far  greater  weight  than  any  ordinary  compli- 
ment, because  it  comes  from  men  who  speak  under 
the  grave  responsibility  of  their  high  station  as  in- 
structors of  their  countrymen  and  after  deliberate 
study,  resulting  in  definite  and  certain  conclusions. 

It  is  a  matter  of  most  interesting  reflection  that 
after  the  nations  of  the  Old  World,  from  which  we 
took  our  being,  had  sought  for  many  years  to  gain 
wealth  and  strength  and  profit  by  the  enforcement 
of  a  narrow  and  mistaken  colonial  policy,  the  revolt 
of  the  colonies  of  the  New  World  brought  to  the 
mother  nations  infinitely  greater  blessings  than  even 
they  were  seeking.  The  reflex  action  of  the  work- 
ing of  the  spirit  of  freedom  on  these  shores  of  the 
new  hemisphere  upon  the  welfare  of  the  countless 
millions  of  the  Old  World  has  been  of  a  value  in- 
calculable and  inconceivable  to  the  minds  against 
whose  mistaken  policy  we  revolted. 

I  have  always  thought,  sir,  that  the  chief  contri- 
bution of  the  United  States  of  America  to  political 
science  was  the  device  of  incorporating  in  written 
constitutions  an  expression  of  the  great  principles 
which  underlie  human  freedom  and  human  justice, 
and  putting  it  in  the  power  of  the  judicial  branch 
of  the  government  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  con- 
formity of  political  action  to  those  principles. 

When  in  the  fullness  of  time  the  hour  had  come 


244  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

for  the  new  experiment  in  government  among  men, 
and  it  was  the  fate  of  the  young  and  feeble  colonies 
upon  the  coast  of  the  North  Atlantic  to  make  the 
experiment,  the  Old  World  was  full  of  the  most  dis- 
mal forebodings  as  to  the  result.  The  world  was 
told  that  the  experiment  of  democratic  government 
meant  the  rule  of  the  mob ;  that  it  might  work  well 
to-day,  but  to-morrow  the  mob  who  had  had  but  half 
a  breakfast  and  could  expect  no  dinner  would  take 
control ;  and  that  the  tyranny  of  the  mob  was  worse 
than  the  tyranny  of  any  individual. 

The  provisions  of  our  constitutions  guard  against 
the  tyranny  of  the  mob,  for  at  the  time  when  men 
can  deal  in  harmony  with  the  principles  of  justice, 
when  no  selfish  motive  exists,  when  no  excited  pas- 
sions exist,  the  constitution  declares  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  justice — that  no  man  shall  be  deprived  of 
his  property  without  due  process  of  the  law ;  that 
private  property  shall  not  be  taken  for  public  use 
without  just  compensation ;  that  a  person  accused 
of  crime  shall  be  entitled  to  be  informed  of  the 
charge  against  him  and  given  an  opportunity  to  de- 
fend himself.  These  provisions  are  essential  to  the 
preservation  of  liberty,  and  in  the  hands  of  judicial 
power  rests  the  prerogative  of  declaring  that  when- 
ever a  congress,  or  a  president,  or  a  general,  or  what- 
ever officer  of  whatever  rank  or  dignity  infringes,  by 
a  hair's  breadth,  upon  any  one  of  these  great  imper- 
sonal declarations  of  human  right,  his  acts  cease  to- 
have  official  effect.  The  substitution  of  the  divine 


ROOT.  245 

quality  of  judgment,  of  the  judicial  quality  in  man, 
that  quality  which  is  bound  by  all  that  honor,  by  all 
that  respect  for  human  rights,  by  all  that  self-respect 
can  accomplish,  to  lay  aside  all  fear  or  favor  and 
decide  justly — the  substitution  of  that  quality  for 
the  fevered  passions  of  the  hour,  for  political  favor 
and  political  hope,  for  political  ambition,  for  per- 
sonal selfishness  and  personal  greed — that  is  the  con- 
tribution, the  great  contribution,  of  the  American 
Constitution  to  the  political  science  of  the  world. 

If  we  pass  to  the  field  most  ably  and  interest- 
'ingly  discussed  in  the  paper  to  which  we  have  just 
listened,  to  the  field  of  international  justice,  we 
find  the  same  principle  less  fully  developed.  I  had 
almost  said  we  find  the  need  for  the  application 
of  the  same  principle.  All  international  law  and 
international  justice  depend  upon  national  law  and 
national  justice.  No  assemblage  of  nations  can 
be  expected  to  establish  and  maintain  any  higher 
standard  as  between  each  other  than  that  which 
each  maintains  within  its  own  borders.  Just  as  the 
standard  of  justice  and  civilization  in  a  community 
depends  upon  the  individual  character  of  the  ele- 
ments of  the  community,  so  the  standard  of  justice 
among  nations  depends  upon  the  standard  estab- 
lished in  each  individual  nation.  Now,  in  the  field 
of  international  arbitration  we  find  a  less  fully 
developed  sense  of  impersonal  justice  than  we  find 
in  our  municipal  jurisprudence.  Many  years  ago 
the  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  in  a  very  able  note, 


246  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

pointed  out  the  extreme  difficulty  which  lies  in  the 
way  of  international  arbitration,  arising  from  the 
difficulty  of  securing  arbitrators  who  will  act  impar- 
tially, the  trouble  being  that  the  world  has  not  yet 
passed,  in  general,  out  of  that  stage  of  development 
in  which  men,  even  if  they  be  arbitrators,  act  diplo- 
matically instead  of  acting  judicially.  Arbitrations 
are  too  apt,  therefore,  to  lead  to  diplomatic  compro- 
mises rather  than  to  judicial  decisions.  The  remedy 
is  not  by  abandoning  the  principle  of  arbitration, 
but  it  is  by  pressing  on  in  every  country  and  among 
all  countries  the  quickened  conscience,  the  higher 
standard,  the  judicial  idea,  the  sense  of  the  responsi- 
bility for  impartial  judgment  in  international  affairs 
as  distinguished  from  the  opportunity  for  negotia- 
tion in  international  affairs.  We  are  too  apt,  both 
those  who  are  despondent  about  the  progress  -of 
civilization  and  those  who  are  cynical  about  the 
unselfishness  of  mankind,  to  be  impatient  in  our 
judgment  and  to  forget  how  long  the  life  of  a 
nation  is,  and  how  slow  the  processes  of  civilization 
are ;  how  long  it  takes  to  change  character  and  to 
educate  whole  peoples  up  to  different  standards  of 
moral  law.  The  principle  of  arbitration  requires 
not  merely  declarations  by  governments,  by  con- 
gresses, but  it  requires  that  education  of  the  people 
of  all  civilized  countries  up  to  the  same  standard 
which  exists  now  regarding  the  sacredness  of  judi- 
cial function  exercised  in  our  courts.  It  does  not 
follow  from  this  that  the  declaration  of  the  princi- 
ple of  arbitration  is  not  of  value ;  it  does  not  follow 


ROOT.  247 

that  governments  and  congresses  are  not  advanc- 
ing the  cause  of  international  justice :  a  principle 
recognized  and  declared  always  gains  fresh  strength 
and  force;  but  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  re- 
sults which  all  of  us  desire  in  the  substitution  of 
arbitration  for  war,  we  must  not  be  content  with 
the  declaration  of  principles;  we  must  carry  on  an 
active  campaign  of  universal  national  and  interna- 
tional education,  elevating  the  idea  of  the  sacredness 
of  the  exercise  of  the  judicial  function  in  arbitration 
as  well  as  in  litigation  between  individuals.  Still 
deeper  than  that  goes  the  duty  that  rests  upon  us. 
Arbitration  is  but  the  method  of  preventing  war 
after  nations  have  drawn  up  in  opposition  to  each 
other  with  serious  differences  and  excited  feelings. 
The  true,  the  permanent,  and  the  final  method  of 
preventing  war  is  to  educate  the  people  who  make 
war  or  peace,  the  people  who  control  parliaments 
and  congresses  to  a  love  for  justice  and  regard  for 
the  rights  of  others.  So  we  come  to  the  duty  that 
rests  here — not  in  the  whims  or  the  preference  or 
the  policy  of  a  monarch,  but  here,  in  this  univer- 
sity, in  every  institution  of  learning  throughout  the 
civilized  world,  with  every  teacher — the  responsi- 
bility of  determining  the  great  issues  of  peace  and 
war  through  the  responsibility  of  teaching  the  peo- 
ple of  our  countries  the  love  of  justice,  teaching 
them  to  seek  the  victories  of  peace  rather  than  the 
glories  of  war,  to  regard  more  highly  an  act  of  jus- 
tice and  of  generosity  than  even  an  act  of  courage  or 
an  act  of  heroism.  In  this  great  work  of  educating 


248  UNIVERSITY    OF    SAN    MARCOS. 

the  people  of  the  American  Republics  to  peace  there 
are  no  political  divisions.  As  there  is,  and  has  been 
since  the  dawn  of  civilization,  but  one  republic  of 
science,  but  one  republic  of  letters,  let  there  be  but 
one  republic  of  the  politics  of  peace,  one  great  uni- 
versity of  the  professors  and  instructors  of  justice, 
of  respect  for  human  rights,  of  consideration  for 
others,  and  of  the  peace  of  the  world. 


VIII. 


Speeches  in  Panama. 


249 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Ricardo  Arias,  Secretary 
of  Government  and  Foreign  Relations,  in  the  Na- 
tional Assembly,  at  Panama,  September  2 1 , 1906. 


MR.  SECRETARY: 

You  have  just  visited  the  wealthiest  capitals  of 
South  America,  real  emporiums  of  its  richness ;  there 
you  have  been  received  with  great  magnificence. 
Our  outward  manifestations  of  joy,  on  the  occasion 
of  your  visit,  may,  therefore,  appear  to  you  very 
humble,  but  you  can  rest  assured  that  none  of  them 
will  surpass  us  in  the  intensity  of  sympathetic  feel- 
ing towards  your  person  and  towards  the  noble 
American  people  that  you  so  worthily  represent. 

We  Panamans  always  remember  with  gratitude 
the  interest  we  inspired  in  you  from  the  very  first 
days  of  our  national  existence,  and  we  bear  in 
mind  very  specially  your  timely  speech  delivered  at 
the  Hamilton  Club  when  our  destiny  was  pending 
on  the  scales  of  a  decision  of  your  Senate,  and 
therefore  we  avail  ourselves  of  this  joyful  oppor- 
tunity to  receive  you  with  the  cordiality  due  to  an 
old  and  good  friend. 

It  has  been,  and  it  is  yet,  the  vehement  desire  of 
your  country  to  bring  into  closer  ties,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, its  political  and  commercial  relations  with  the 

251 


252  PANAMA. 

Latin-American  countries.  The  similarity  of  tradi- 
tions and  institutions,  the  vicinity  and  continuity 
of  their  territories,  and  the  vast  field  of  commercial 
expansion  which  they  offer  fully  justify  that  natural, 
legitimate  desire,  which  is  also  mutually  beneficial ; 
but  there  being  between  yours  and  the  latter  coun- 
tries essential  differences  of  language,  race,  disposi- 
tion, and  education  there  is  bound  to  exist  in  them 
the  suspicion  which  is  naturally  engendered  by  the 
unknown,  and  thus  it  is  that  the  first  steps  taken 
towards  the  accomplishment  of  your  desire  should 
have  been  the  removal  of  that  suspicion  by  means 
of  friendly  intercourse  and  mutual  acquaintance. 

With  the  tact  brought  forth  by  your  vast  intelli- 
gence and  learning  you  fully  understood  that  those 
do  not  love  each  other  well  who  are  not  intimately 
acquainted,  and  it  is  owing  to  this  fact  that  you 
decided  to  come  in  person  to  visit  and  to  know 
the  Latin-Americans  by  your  own  observation  and 
study,  and  no  doubt  you  carry  with  you  a  joyful 
impression  of  the  progress  and  nobleness  of  dispo- 
sition of  our  southern  brothers,  together  with  the 
assurance  that  your  mission  will  achieve  a  new 
and  splendid  triumph  for  that  American  diplomacy 
whereof  you  are  the  skillful  director,  and  the  prin- 
cipal object  of  which  is  the  accomplishment  of  the 
desire  of  which  I  have  already  spoken. 

Being  desirous  to  cooperate  in  the  aims  you  have 
in  view,  and  with  the  idea  of  dispelling  certain 
existing  misunderstandings  concerning  the  motives 


ARIAS.  253 

and  intentions  which  originated  our  present  pleasant 
relations,  in  a  statement  which  I  recently  addressed 
to  your  Government  through  its  minister  pleni- 
potentiary here  I  recounted  the  historical  events 
which  engendered  our  national  existence  and  those 
special  relations  which  link  us  to  your  country,  in 
order  that  when  the  seal  of  diplomatic  silence  is 
removed  and  said  statement  becomes  public  prop- 
erty the  world  may  know,  through  the  unimpeach- 
able testimony  of  history,  that  only  ideals  of  the 
highest  altruism  served  as  a  guide  to  the  foundation 
of  our  Republic  and  to  the  celebration  of  the  treaty 
concerning  the  construction  of  the  Interoceanic 
Canal  for  our  benefit  and  pro  mundi  beneficio. 

Panama  offers  you  a  splendid  field  to  promote 
the  wise  international  policy  which  labors  in  your 
mind.  We  being  of  similar  conditions  as  our  Latin- 
American  brothers,  being  linked  to  your  country  by 
the  closest  ties  that  can  exist  between  two  independ- 
ent nations,  you  having  the  means  of  exerting  deci- 
sive influence  in  our  future  life  and  we  being  situated 
in  the  compulsory  and  constant  path  of  universal 
transit,  shall  be  an  evident,  glaring  example  of  the 
benefit  which  your  country  can  and  is  willing  to 
dispense  in  favor  of  the  countries  of  our  race,  and 
the  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  your  good  designs 
exposed  to  the  criticism  of  those  interested  in  the 
most  culminating  and  propitious  place.  The  fruits 
of  your  influence  are  already  felt  and  seen.  Peace, 
which  we  consider  as  a  blessing,  is  a  permanent  fact. 


254  PANAMA. 

Under  its  shelter,  and  under  that  of  the  assurances 
given  us  by  your  illustrious  President  in  his  famous 
letter  of  the  i8th  October,  1904,  addressed  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  Panama  has  entered  with  firm 
step  upon  the  path  of  material,  intellectual,  and 
moral  development.  Those  who  knew  us  a  little 
over  two  years  ago,  disheartened  and  ruined  by  bad 
government  and  civil  war,  and  see  to-day  the  change 
that  has  taken  place  in  us  in  such  a  short  time,  carry 
to  the  north  and  south  the  gratifying  news  of  our 
regeneration  and  thereby  contribute  to  dispel  un- 
founded suspicions  regarding  yourselves. 

These  good  results  are  the  forerunners  of  greater 
benefits  which  we  are  to  expect  in  the  future  and 
the  effect  of  the  cooperation  of  the  agents  of  your 
Government  in  the  progress  of  the  country  in  gen- 
eral, of  their  friendly  and  timely  advice,  and  of 
their  decided  moral  support  whenever  there  has 
been  need  thereof. 

I  should  and  will  profit  by  this  opportunity  to 
convey  to  you  the  gratitude  of  the  Government 
and  people  of  Panama  for  the  special  consideration 
which  has  been  extended  to  them  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  your  country.  This  has  been  evidenced 
principally  by  the  select  diplomatic  staff  sent  to  us, 
starting  with  the  very  able  Hon.  William  I.  Buch- 
anan, its  first  minister  plenipotentiary,  up  to  the 
popular  Hon.  Charles  E.  Magoon,  who  can  hardly 
be  replaced  and  whose  separation  from  the  post  he 
occupies  with  general  satisfaction  has  caused  great 
regret  in  the  country,  from  the  very  highest  corpo- 


ARIAS.  255 

ration  to  the  most  humble  citizen ;  and  not  satisfied 
with  that  you  have  sent  us,  doing  us  an  unmerited 
honor,  in  the  first  place,  by  special  order  of  your 
very  noble  President,  your  Secretary  of  War,  Hon. 
William  H.  Taft,  who  established  the  relations 
between  our  two  countries  on  the  happy  basis  of 
mutual  cordiality  and  justice  on  which  they  are  at 
present,  and  now,  Mr.  Secretary,  you  do  us  the 
great  honor  of  coming  yourself  on  a  visit,  placing 
us  on  a  level  with  the  powerful  Brazil,  Argentina, 
Chile,  Peru,  and  Uruguay ;  and,  furthermore,  which 
appears  to  be  the  extreme  limit  of  what  is  possible, 
you  allow  us  to  look  forward  to  the  coming  visit 
of  your  great  President,  the  most  distinguished  of 
existing  rulers — a  special  honor  which  has  not  been 
vouchsafed  even  to  the  most  powerful  nations  of 
the  world.  Panama,  overwhelmed  with  so  many 
marks  of  appreciation,  will  preserve  them  as  an 
everlasting  remembrance  of  gratitude  towards  your 
noble  country;  and  in  return,  though  it  be  but 
partial,  we  will  follow  your  advice,  we  will  coop- 
erate without  reserve  and  with  enthusiasm  in  the 
great  work  of  the  Interoceanic  Canal,  which  is 
bound  to  be  the  most  magnificent  monument  of 
the  grandeur  of  your  people ;  and  we  will  likewise 
support  you  in  the  mission  of  American  brother- 
hood which  you  have  undertaken,  founding  a  nation 
which  shall  distinguish  itself  by  its  love  of  work,  of 
honor,  of  order,  and  of  justice,  which  you  can  sub- 
sequently present  to  the  world  as  the  result  of  your 
good  influence. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  YOUR  EXCELLENCY,  AND  GENTLE- 
MEN : 

I  thank  you  for  your  kind  welcome  to  me,  and 
for  the  friendship  to  my  country  expressed  in  that 
welcome,  and  I  thank  you  for  the  honor  conferred 
upon  me  by  this  reception  in  the  legislative  body 
which  is  charged  with  the  government  of  this  Re- 
public. You  have  justly  said,  sir,  that  I  am  deeply 
interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  people  of  Panama. 
At  the  time  of  the  events  which  led  to  your  in- 
dependence I  studied  your  history  carefully  and 
thoroughly  from  original  documents,  in  order  to 
determine  in  my  own  mind  what  the  course  of  my 
country  ought  to  be.  From  that  study  have  resulted 
a  keen  sense  of  the  manifold  injuries  and  injustices 
under  which  the  people  of  Panama  have  suffered  in 
years  past;  a  strong  sympathy  with  you  in  your 
efforts  and  aspirations  towards  a  better  condition  in 
your  country;  a  fervent  hope  for  your  prosperity 
and  welfare. 

It  is  with  the  greatest  pleasure  that  I  have  heard 

the  expressions  of  friendship  for  my  country,  because 

of  my  feeling  toward  you  and  because  of  the  special 

relations  which  exist  between   the  two   countries. 

256 


ROOT.  257 

We  are  engaged  together  in  the  prosecution  of  a 
great,  a  momentous  enterprise — an  enterprise  which 
has  been  the  dream  not  only  of  the  early  navigators 
who  first  colonized  your  coasts,  but  of  the  most  pro- 
gressive of  mankind  for  four  centuries.  Its  success- 
ful accomplishment  will  make  Panama  the  very 
center  of  the  world's  trade ;  you  will  stand  upon  the 
greatest  of  highways  of  commerce;  more  than  the 
ancient  glories  of  the  Isthmus  will  be  restored ;  and 
there  lies  before  you  in  the  future  of  this  successful 
enterprise  wealth,  prosperity,  the  opportunity  for 
education,  for  cultivation,  and  for  intercourse  with 
all  the  world  such  as  has  never  before  been  brought 
to  any  people.  The  success  of  the  enterprise  will 
unite  the  far-separated  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  of 
my  country ;  it  will  give  to  us  the  credit  of  great 
deeds  done,  and  make  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  for 
us  as  but  one  ocean,  and  the  success  of  this  enter- 
prise will  give  to  the  world  a  new  highway  of  com- 
merce and  the  possibility  of  a  distinct  and  enormous 
advance  in  that  communication  between  nations 
which  is  the  surest  guaranty  of  peace  and  civilization. 
The  performance  of  this  work  is  to  be  accom- 
plished by  us  jointly.  You  furnish  the  country,  the 
place,  the  soil,  the  atmosphere,  the  surrounding  pop- 
ulation among  which  the  people  who  do  the  work 
are  to  live  and  where  the  work  is  to  be  maintained. 
We  furnish  the  capital  and  the  trained  constructive 
ability  which  has  grown  up  in  the  course  of  centu- 
ries of  development  of  the  northern  continent.  The 

R 1? 


258  PANAMA. 

work  is  difficult  and  delicate ;  the  two  peoples,  the 
Anglo-American  and  the  Spanish-American,  are 
widely  different  in  their  traditions,  their  laws,  their 
customs,  their  methods  of  thinking  and  speaking 
and  doing  business.  It  often  happens  that  we  mis- 
understand each  other;  it  often  happens  that  we 
fail  to  appreciate  your  good  qualities  and  that  you 
fail  to  appreciate  ours ;  and  that  with  perfectly  good 
intentions,  with  the  best  of  purposes  and  the  kind- 
liest of  feelings,  we  clash,  we  fail  to  understand 
each  other,  we  get  at  cross-purposes,  and  miscon- 
ception and  discord  are  liable  to  arise.  Let  us  re- 
member this  in  all  our  intercourse;  let  us  be  patient 
with  each  other;  let  us  believe  in  the  sincerity  of 
our  mutual  good  purposes  and  kindly  feelings  and 
be  patient  and  forbearing  each  with  the  other,  so 
that  we  may  go  on  together  in  the  accomplishment 
of  this  great  enterprise ;  together  bring  it  to  a  suc- 
cessful conclusion;  together  share  in  the  glory  of 
the  great  work  done,  and  in  the  prosperity  that  will 
come  from  the  result. 

Mr.  President  and  gentlemen,  let  me  assure  you 
that  in  the  share  which  the  United  States  is  taking 
and  is  to  take  in  this  work  there  is  and  can  be  but 
one  feeling  and  one  desire  towards  the  people  of 
Panama.  It  is  a  feeling  of  friendship,  sincere  and 
lasting;  it  is  a  feeling  of  strong  desire  that  wisdom 
may  control  the  deliberations  of  this  Assembly ; 
that  judgment  and  prudence  and  love  of  country 
may  rule  in  all  your  councils  and  may  control  all 


ROOT.  259 

your  actions ;  it  is  a  desire  and  a  firm  purpose  that 
so  far  as  in  us  lies  there  shall  be  preserved  for  you 
the  precious  boon  of  free  self-government.  We  do 
not  wish  to  govern  you  or  to  interfere  in  your  Gov- 
ernment because  we  are  larger  and  stronger;  we 
believe  that  the  principle  of  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  men  are  more  important  than  the  size  of  armies 
or  the  number  of  battleships.  That  independence 
which  we,  first  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  rec- 
ognized, it  is  our  desire  to  have  maintained  invio- 
late. Believe  this ;  be  patient  with  us,  as  we  will 
be  patient  with  you,  and  I  hope,  I  believe,  that  at 
some  future  day  we  shall  all  be  sailing  through  the 
canal  together,  congratulating  each  other  upon  our 
share  in  that  great  and  beneficent  work. 


IX. 


Speeches  in  Colombia. 


261 


Speech  of  His  Excellency  Vasquez-Cobo,  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  at  a  breakfast,  given  to  Mr. 
Root,  at  Cartagena,  September  24,  1906. 


[Translation  from  the  Spanish.] 

MR.  SECRETARY  : 

Upon  receiving  your  excellency  within  the  con- 
fines of  our  heroic  and  glorious  Cartagena,  I  present 
to  you  a  cordial  greeting  of  welcome,  in  the  name 
of  Colombia,  of  His  Excellency  the  President  of 
the  Republic,  and  in  my  own. 

You  return  to  your  own  country  to  enjoy  merited 
honors  and  laurels  after  a  long  tour,  giving  a  hearty 
embrace  of  friendship  to  our  sisters,  the  Republics 
of  the  South,  and  in  breaking  your  journey  upon 
our  burning  shores  we  receive  you  as  the  herald  of 
peace,  of  justice,  and  of  concord  with  which  the 
great  Republic  of  the  North  greets  the  American 
Continent.  I  trust  to  God  that  these  walls,  the 
austere  witnesses  of  our  glory,  will  serve  as  a  monu- 
ment whereby  this  visit  may  be  noted  in  history ! 

The  Honorable  Minister  Barrett,  the  worthy 
and  estimable  representative  of  your  excellency's 
Government,  has  just  finished  journeying  through  a 
large  part  of  our  vast  territory ;  he,  better  than  any 

263 


264  COLOMBIA. 

one,  will  be  able  to  tell  your  excellency  what  he  has 
seen  in  our  beautiful  and  fertile  valleys  and  moun- 
tains, in  our  flourishing  cities  and  fields,  and  among 
the  five  millions  of  lusty,  high-minded,  peace-loving, 
and  hard-working  inhabitants,  who  to-day  think  only 
of  peace  and  useful  and  honest  toil. 

This  is  the  nation  that  greets  you  to-day  and 
with  loyalty  and  frankness  clasps  the  hand  of  her 
sister  of  the  North. 

Mr.  Secretary,  upon  thanking  you  for  the  honor 
of  this  visit,  I  fervently  pray  that  a  happy  outcome 
may  crown  your  efforts  in  the  great  work  of  Ameri- 
can confraternity,  and  I  drink  to  the  prosperity  and 
greatness  of  the  United  States,  to  its  President, 
and  especially  to  your  excellency. 


Reply  of  Mr.  Root. 


YOUR  EXCELLENCY,  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

Believe,  I  beg  you,  in  the  sincerity  of  my  appre- 
ciation and  my  thanks  for  the  courtesy  with  which 
you  have  received  me,  and  for  the  honor  which  you 
have  shown  me.  When  the  suggestion  was  made 
that  upon  my  return  from  a  voyage  encircling  the 
continent  of  South  America  I  should  stop  at  Carta- 
gena for  an  interview  with  you,  sir,  before  returning 
to  my  own  country,  I  accepted  with  alacrity  and 
with  pleasure,  because  it  was  most  grateful  to  me  to 
testify  by  my  presence  upon  your  shores  to  my  high 
respect  for  your  great  country,  the  country  of  Boli- 
var; to  my  sincere  desire  that  all  questions  which 
exist  between  the  United  States  of  Colombia  and 
the  United  States  of  America  may  be  settled  peace- 
fully, in  the  spirit  of  friendship,  of  mutual  esteem, 
and  with  honor  for  both  countries.  Especially, 
also,  I  was  glad  to  come  to  Colombia  as  an  evidence 
of  my  esteem  and  regard  for  that  noble  and  great 
man  whom  it  is  the  privilege  of  Colombia  to  call 
her  President  to-day — General  Reyes.  I  have  had 
the  privilege  of  personal  acquaintance  with  him, 
and  I  look  upon  his  conduct  of  affairs  in  the  Chief 

265 


266  COLOMBIA. 

Magistracy  of  your  Republic  with  the  twofold  in- 
terest of  one  who  loves  his  fellow-men  and  desires 
the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  people  of  Co- 
lombia, and  of  a  personal  regard  and  friendship  for 
the  President  himself. 

I  have  been  much  gratified  during  my  visit  to 
so  many  of  the  Republics  of  South  America  to  find 
universally  the  spirit  of  a  new  industrial  and  com- 
mercial awakening,  to  find  a  new  era  of  enterprise 
and  prosperity  dawning  in  the  Southern  Continent. 

Mr.  Minister  and  gentlemen,  it  will  be  the  cause 
of  sincere  happiness  to  me  if  through  the  present 
friendly  relations,  based  upon  personal  knowledge 
acquired  here,  I  may  do  something  towards  helping 
the  Republic  of  Colombia  forward  along  the  path- 
way of  the  new  development  of  South  America. 
With  your  vast  agricultural  and  mineral  wealth, 
with  the  incalculable  richness  of  your  domain,  the 
wealth  and  prosperity  of  Colombia  are  sure  to  come 
some  time.  Let  us  hope  that  they  will  come  now 
while  we  are  living,  in  order  that  you  may  transfer 
to  your  children  not  the  possibility  but  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  increased  greatness  of  your  country. 
Let  us  hope  that  some  advance  of  this  new  era  of 
progress  may  come  from  the  pleasant  friendships 
formed  to-day.  While  I  return  my  thanks  to  you 
for  your  courtesy  let  me  assure  you  that  there  is 
nothing  that  could  give  greater  pleasure  to  the 
President  and  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  of 
America  than  to  feel  that  they  may  have  some  part 


ROOT.  267 

in  promoting  the  prosperity  and  the  happiness  of 
this  sister  Republic. 

I  ask  you  to  join  me  in  drinking  to  the  peace, 
the  prosperity,  the  order,  the  justice,  the  liberty  of 
the  Republic  of  Colombia,  and  long  life  and  a  pros- 
perous career  in  office  to  its  President — General 
Reyes. 


APPENDIX. 


269 


Speech  of  Mr.  Elihu  Root  on  Commercial  Rela- 
tions with  South  America  before  the  Trans- 
Mississippi  Commercial  Congress,  Kansas  City, 
November  20,  1906. 


MR.    PRESIDENT,   AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CON- 
GRESS : 

A  little  less  than  three  centuries  of  colonial  and 
national  life  have  brought  the  people  inhabiting  the 
United  States,  by  a  process  of  evolution,  natural 
and  with  the  existing  forces  inevitable,  to  a  point 
of  distinct  and  radical  change  in  their  economic 
relations  to  the  rest  of  mankind. 

During  the  period  now  past  the  energy  of  our 
people,  directed  by  the  formative  power  created  in 
our  early  population  by  heredity,  by  environment, 
by  the  struggle  for  existence,  by  individual  inde- 
pendence, and  by  free  institutions,  has  been  devoted 
to  the  internal  development  of  our  own  country. 
The  surplus  wealth  produced  by  our  labors  has  been 
applied  immediately  to  reproduction  in  our  own 
land.  We  have  been  cutting  down  forests  and 
breaking  virgin  soil  and  fencing  prairies  and  open- 
ing mines  of  coal  and  iron  and  copper  and  silver 
and  gold,  and  building  roads  and  canals  and  rail- 
roads and  telegraph  lines  and  cars  and  locomotives 

271 


2/2  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS. 

and  mills  and  furnaces  and  schoolhouses  and  colleges 
and  libraries  and  hospitals  and  asylums  and  public 
buildings  and  storehouses  and  shops  and  homes. 
We  have  been  drawing  on  the  resources  of  the  world 
in  capital  and  in  labor  to  aid  us  in  our  work.  We 
have  gathered  strength  from  every  rich  and  powerful 
nation  and  expended  it  upon  these  home  under- 
takings; into  them  we  have  poured  hundreds  of 
millions  of  money  attracted  from  the  investors  of 
Europe.  We  have  been  always  a  debtor  nation, 
borrowing  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  drawing  all 
possible  energy  towards  us  and  concentrating  it 
with  our  own  energy  upon  our  own  enterprises. 
The  engrossing  pursuit  of  our  own  opportunities 
has  excluded  from  our  consideration  and  interest 
the  enterprises  and  the  possibilities  of  the  outside 
world.  Invention,  discovery,  the  progress  of  science, 
capacity  for  organization,  the  enormous  increase  in 
the  productive  power  of  mankind,  have  accelerated 
our  progress  and  have  brought  us  to  a  result  of 
development  in  every  branch  of  internal  industrial 
activity  marvelous  and  unprecedented  in  the  history 
of  the  world. 

Since  the  first  election  of  President  McKinley 
the  people  of  the  United  States  have  for  the  first 
time  accumulated  a  surplus  of  capital  beyond  the  re- 
quirements of  internal  development.  That  surplus 
is  increasing  with  extraordinary  rapidity.  We  have 
paid  our  debts  to  Europe  and  have  become  a  cred- 
itor instead  of  a  debtor  nation;  we  have  faced  about; 


ROOT.  273 

we  have  left  the  ranks  of  the  borrowing  nations  and 
have  entered  the  ranks  of  the  investing  nations. 
Our  surplus  energy  is  beginning  to  look  beyond 
our  own  borders,  throughout  the  world,  to  find  op- 
portunity for  the  profitable  use  of  our  surplus  capi- 
tal, foreign  markets  for  our  manufactures,  foreign 
mines  to  be  developed,  foreign  bridges  and  railroads 
and  public  works  to  be  built,  foreign  rivers  to  be 
turned  into  electric  power  and  light.  As  in  their 
several  ways  England  and  France  and  Germany 
have  stood,  so  we  in  our  own  way  are  beginning  to 
stand  and  must  continue  to  stand  towards  the 
industrial  enterprise  of  the  world. 

That  we  are  not  beginning  our  new  role  feebly 
is  indicated  by  $1,518,561,666  of  exports  in  the  year 
1905  as  against  $1,117,513,071  of  imports,  and  by 
$1,743,864,500  exports  in  the  year  1906  as  against 
$1,226,563,843  of  imports.  Our  first  steps  in  the 
new  field  indeed  are  somewhat  clumsy  and  unskilled. 
In  our  own  vast  country,  with  oceans  on  either  side, 
we  have  had  too  little  contact  with  foreign  peoples 
readily  to  understand  their  customs  or  learn  their 
languages ;  yet  no  one  can  doubt  that  we  shall  learn 
and  shall  understand  and  shall  do  our  business 
abroad,  as  we  have  done  it  at  home,  with  force  and 
efficiency. 

Coincident  with  this  change  in  the  United  States 
the  progress  of  political  development  has  been  car- 
rying the  neighboring  continent  of  South  America 
out  of  the  stage  of  militarism  into  the  stage  of  in- 
dustrialism. Throughout  the  greater  part  of  that 

R 18 


274  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS. 

vast  continent  revolutions  have  ceased  to  be  looked 
upon  with  favor  or  submitted  to  with  indifference ; 
the  revolutionary  general  and  the  dictator  are  no 
longer  the  objects  of  admiration  and  imitation ;  civic 
virtues  command  the  highest  respect;  the  people 
point  with  satisfaction  and  pride  to  the  stability  of 
their  Governments,  to  the  safety  of  property  and 
the  certainty  of  justice;  nearly  everywhere  the  peo- 
ple are  eager  for  foreign  capital  to  develop  their 
natural  resources  and  for  foreign  immigration  to 
occupy  their  vacant  land.  Immediately  before  us, 
at  exactly  the  right  time,  just  as  we  are  ready  for  it, 
great  opportunities  for  peaceful  commercial  and 
industrial  expansion  to  the  south  are  presented. 
Other  investing  nations  are  already  in  the  field- 
England,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Spain ;  but  the 
field  is  so  vast,  the  new  demands  are  so  great,  the 
progress  so  rapid,  that  what  other  nations  have  done 
up  to  this  time  is  but  a  slight  advance  in  the  race 
for  the  grand  total.  The  opportunities  are  so  large 
that  figures  fail  to  convey  them.  The  area  of  this 
newly  awakened  continent  is  7,502,848  square 
miles — more  than  two  and  one-half  times  as  large  as 
the  United  States  without  Alaska,  and  more  than 
double  the  United  States  including  Alaska.  A 
large  part  of  this  area  lies  within  the  Temperate 
Zone,  with  an  equable  and  invigorating  climate,  free 
from  extremes  of  either  heat  or  cold.  Farther 
north  in  the  Tropics  are  enormous  expanses  of  high 
table-lands,  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  foot- 


ROOT.  275 

hills  of  the  Andes,  and  lifted  far  above  the  tropical 
heats ;  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  western  Cordilleras 
are  cooled  by  perpetual  snows  even  under  the 
Equator;  vast  forests  grow  untouched  from  a  soil 
of  incredible  richness.  The  plains  of  Argentina, 
the  great  uplands  of  Brazil,  the  mountain  valleys 
of  Chile,  Peru,  Ecuador,  Bolivia,  and  Colombia  are 
suited  to  the  habitation  of  any  race,  however  far  to 
the  north  its  origin  may  have  been ;  hundreds  of 
millions  of  men  can  find  healthful  homes  and  abun- 
dant sustenance  in  this  great  territory. 

The  population  in  1900  was  only  42,461,381,  less 
than  six  to  the  square  mile.  The  density  of  popu- 
lation was  less  than  o'ne-eighth  of  that  in  the  State 
of  Missouri,  less  than  one-sixtieth  of  that  in  the 
State  of  Massachusetts,  less  than  one-seventieth  of 
that  in  England,  less  than  i  per  cent  of  that  in 
Belgium. 

With  this  sparse  population  the  production  of 
wealth  is  already  enormous.  The  latest  trade  sta- 
tistics show  exports  from  South  America  to  foreign 
countries  of  $745,530,000,  and  imports  of  $499,- 
858,600.  Of  the  five,  hundred  millions  of  goods 
that  South  America  buys  we  sell  them  but  $63,246,- 
525,  or  12.6  per  cent.  Of  the  seven  hundred  and 
forty-five  millions  that  South  America  sells  we  buy 
$152,092,000,  or  20.4  per  cent — nearly  two  and  a 
half  times  as  much  as  we  sell. 

Their  production  is  increasing  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  In  eleven  years  the  exports  of  Chile  have 


2/6  COMMERCIAL    CONGRESS. 

increased  45  per  cent,  from  $54,030,000  in  1894  to 
$78,840,000  in  1905.  In  eight  years  the  exports  of 
Peru  have  increased  100  per  cent,  from  $13,899,000 
in  1897  to  $28,758,000  in  1905.  In  ten  years  the 
exports  of  Brazil  have  increased  66  per  cent,  from 
$134,062,000  in  1894  to  $223,101,000  in  1905.  In 
ten  years  the  exports  of  Argentina  have  increased 
168  percent,  from  $115,868,000  in  1895  to  $311,- 
544,000  in  1905. 

This  is  only  the  beginning ;  the  coffee  and  rub- 
ber of  Brazil,  the  wheat  and  beef  and  hides  of  Ar- 
gentina and  Uruguay,  the  copper  and  nitrates  of 
Chile,  the  copper  and  tin  of  Bolivia,  the  silver  and 
gold  and  cottori  and  sugar  of  Peru,  are  but  samples 
of  what  the  soil  and  mines  of  that  wonderful  conti- 
nent are  capable  of  yielding.  Ninety-seven  per 
cent  of  the  territory  of  South  America  is  occupied 
by  ten  independent  Republics  living  under  constitu- 
tions substantially  copied  or  adapted  from  our  own. 
Under  the  new  conditions  of  tranquillity  and  security 
which  prevail  in  most  of  them  their  eager  invita- 
tion to  immigrants  from  the  Old  World  will  not 
long  pass  unheeded.  The  pressure  of  population 
abroad  will  inevitably  turn  its  streams  of  life  and 
labor  towards  those  fertile  fields  and  valleys.  The 
streams  have  already  begun  to  flow;  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand  immigrants  entered  the  Argentine 
Republic  last  year;  they  are  coming  this  year  at  the 
rate  of  over  three  hundred  thousand.  Many  thou- 
sands of  Germans  have  already  settled  in  southern 


ROOT.  277 

Brazil.  They  are  most  welcome  in  Brazil ;  they  are 
good  and  useful  citizens  there,  as  they  are  here ;  I 
hope  that  many  more  will  come  to  Brazil  and  every 
other  South  American  country,  and  add  their  vigor- 
ous industry  and  good  citizenship  to  the  upbuilding 
of  their  adopted  home. 

With  the  increase  of  population  in  such  a  field, 
under  free  institutions,  with  the  fruits  of  labor  and 
the  rewards  of  enterprise  secure,  the  production  of 
wealth  and  the  increase  of  purchasing  power  will 
afford  a  market  for  the  commerce  of  the  world 
worthy  to  rank  even  with  the  markets  of  the  Orient 
as  the  goal  of  business  enterprise.  The  material 
resources  of  South  America  are  in  some  important 
respects  complementary  to  our  own ;  that  continent 
is  weakest  where  North  America  is  strongest  as  a 
field  for  manufactures;  it  has  comparatively  little 
coal  and  iron.  In  many  respects  the  people  of  the 
two  continents  are  complementary  to  each  other; 
the  South  American  is  polite,  refined,  cultivated, 
fond  of  literature  and  of  expression  and  of  the  graces 
and  charms  of  life,  while  the  North  American  is 
strenuous,  intense,  utilitarian.  Where  we  accumu- 
late, they  spend.  While  we  have  less  of  the  cheer- 
ful philosophy  which  finds  sources  of  happiness  in 
the  existing  conditions  of  life,  they  have  less  of  the 
inventive  faculty  which  strives  continually  to  in- 
crease the  productive  power  of  man  and  lower  the 
cost  of  manufacture.  The  chief  merits  of  the  peo- 
ples of  the  two  continents  are  different;  their 


278  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS. 

chief  defects  are  different.  Mutual  intercourse  and 
knowledge  can  not  fail  to  greatly  benefit  both. 
Each  can  learn  from  the  other;  each  can  teach 
much  to  the  other,  and  each  can  contribute  greatly 
to  the  development  and  prosperity  of  the  other.  A 
large  part  of  their  products  find  no  domestic  com- 
petition here ;  a  large  part  of  our  products  will  find 
no  domestic  competition  there.  The  typical  condi- 
tions exist  for  that  kind  of  trade  which  is  profitable, 
honorable,  and  beneficial  to  both  parties. 

The  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
South  America  have  been  chiefly  political  rather 
than  commercial  or  personal.  In  the  early  days  of 
the  South  American  struggle  for  independence  the 
eloquence  of  Henry  Clay  awakened  in  the  American 
people  a  generous  sympathy  for  the  patriots  of  the 
south  as  for  brethren  struggling  in  the  common 
cause  of  liberty.  The  clear-eyed,  judicious  diplo- 
macy of  Richard  Rush,  the  American  minister  at 
the  Court  of  St.  James,  effected  a  complete  under- 
standing with  Great  Britain  for  concurrent  action 
in  opposition  to  the  designs  of  the  Holy  Alliance, 
already  contemplating  the  partition  of  the  Southern 
Continent  among  the  great  powers  of  Continental 
Europe.  The  famous  declaration  of  Monroe  arrayed 
the  organized  and  rapidly  increasing  power  of  the 
United  States  as  an  obstacle  to  European  interfer- 
ence and  made  it  forever  plain  that  the  cost  of 
European  aggression  would  be  greater  than  any 
advantage  which  could  be  won  even  by  successful 
aggression. 


ROOT.  2  79 

That  great  declaration  was  not  the  chance 
expression  of  the  opinion  or  the  feeling  of  the 
moment;  it  crystallized  the  sentiment  for  human 
liberty  and  human  rights  which  has  saved  Ameri- 
can idealism  from  the  demoralization  of  narrow 
selfishness,  and  has  given  to  American  democracy 
its  true  world  power  in  the  virile  potency  of  a  great 
example.  It  responded  to  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  in  an  intensely  practical  people.  It 
was  the  result  of  conference  with  Jefferson  and 
Madison  and  John  Quincy  Adams  and  John  C. 
Calhoun  and  William  Wirt — a  combination  of  po- 
litical wisdom,  experience,  and  skill  not  easily  sur- 
passed. The  particular  circumstances  which  led  to 
the  declaration  no  longer  exist;  no  Holy  Alliance 
now  threatens  to  partition  South  America;  no 
European  colonization  of  the  west  coast  threatens 
to  exclude  us  from  the  Pacific.  But  those  condi- 
tions were  merely  the  occasion  for  the  declaration 
of  a  principle  of  action.  Other  occasions  for  the 
application  of  the  principle  have  arisen  since;  it 
needs  no  prophetic  vision  to  see  that  other  occa- 
sions for  its  application  may  arise  hereafter.  The 
principle  declared  by  Monroe  is  as  wise  an  expres- 
sion of  sound  political  judgment  to-day,  as  truthful 
a  representation  of  the  sentiments  and  instincts  of 
the  American  people  to-day,  as  living  in  its  force  as 
an  effective  rule  of  conduct  whenever  occasion  shall 
arise,  as  it  was  on  the  2d  of  December,  1823. 

These  great  political  services  to  South  American 


280  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS. 

independence,  however,  did  not  and  could  not  in  the 
nature  of  things  create  any  relation  between  the  peo- 
ple of  South  America  and  the  people  of  the  United 
States  except  a  relation  of  political  sympathy. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  Mr.  Elaine,  sanguine, 
resourceful,  and  gifted  with  that  imagination  which 
enlarges  the  historian's  understanding  of  the  past 
into  the  statesman's  comprehension  of  the  future, 
undertook  to  inaugurate  a  new  era  of  American 
relations  which  should  supplement  political  sympa- 
thy by  personal  acquaintance,  by  the  intercourse  of 
expanding  trade,  and  by  mutual  helpfulness.  As 
Secretary  of  State  under  President  Arthur,  he  in- 
vited the  American  nations  to  a  conference  to  be 
held  on  the  24th  of  November,  1882,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  considering  and  discussing  the  subject  of 
preventing  war  between  the  nations  of  America. 
That  invitation,  abandoned  by  Mr.  Frelinghuysen, 
was  renewed  under  Mr.  Cleveland,  and  on  the  2d  of 
October,  1889,  Mr.  Elaine,  again  Secretary  of  State 
under  President  Harrison,  had  the  singular  good 
fortune  to  execute  his  former  design  and  to  open 
the  sessions  of  the  First  American  Conference  at 
Washington.  In  an  address  of  wisdom  and  lofty 
spirit,  which  should  ever  give  honor  to  his  memory, 
he  described  the  assembly  as— 

an  honorable,  peaceful  conference  of  seventeen  independ- 
ent American  powers,  in  which  all  shall  meet  together 
on  terms  of  absolute  equality;  a  conference  in  which  there 
can  be  no  attempt  to  coerce  a  single  delegate  against  his 


ROOT.  28l 

own  conception  of  the  interests  of  his  nation ;  a  confer- 
ence which  will  permit  no  secret  understanding  on  any 
subject,  but  will  frankly  publish  to  the  world  all  its  con- 
clusions; a  conference  which  will  tolerate  no  spirit  of 
conquest,  but  will  aim  to  cultivate  an  American  sympathy 
as  broad  as  both  continents;  a  conference  which  will  form 
no  selfish  alliance  against  the  older  nations  from  which 
we  are  proud  to  claim  inheritance — a  conference,  in  fine, 
which  will  seek  nothing,  propose  nothing,  endure  nothing 
that  is  not,  in  the  general  sense  of  all  the  delegates,  timely, 
wise,  and  peaceful. 

The  policy  which  Elaine  inaugurated  has  been 
continued;  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has 
approved  it;  subsequent  Presidents  have  followed  it. 
The  First  Conference  at  Washington  has  been  suc- 
ceeded by  a  Second  Conference  in  Mexico,  and 
now  by  a  Third  Conference  in  Rio  de  Janeiro;  and 
it  is  to  be  followed  in  years  to  come  by  further  suc- 
cessive assemblies  in  which  the  representatives  of  all 
American  States  shall  acquire  better  knowledge  and 
more  perfect  understanding  and  be  drawn  together 
by  the  recognition  of  common  interests  and  the 
kindly  consideration  and  discussion  of  measures  for 
mutual  benefit. 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Elaine  was  in  advance  of  his 
time.  In  1881  and  1889  neither  had  the  United 
States  reached  a  point  where  it  could  turn  its  ener- 
gies away  from  its  own  internal  development  and 
direct  them  outward  towards  the  development  of 
foreign  enterprises  and  foreign  trade,  nor  had  the 
South  American  countries  reached  the  stage  of 


282  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS. 

stability  in  government  and  security  for  property 
necessary  to  their  industrial  development. 

Now,  however,  the  time  has  come;  both  North 
and  South  America  have  grown  up  to  Elaine's 
policy;  the  production,  the  trade,  the  capital,  the 
enterprise  of  the  United  States  have  before  them 
the  opportunity  to  follow,  and  they  are  free  to  fol- 
low, the  pathway  marked  out  by  the  far-sighted 
statesmanship  of  Elaine  for  the  growth  of  America, 
North  and  South,  in  the  peaceful  prosperity  of  a 
mighty  commerce. 

To  utilize  this  opportunity  certain  practical 
things  must  be  done.  For  the  most  part  these 
things  must  be  done  by  a  multitude  of  individual 
efforts ;  they  can  not  be  done  by  government.  Gov- 
ernment may  help  to  furnish  facilities  for  the  doing 
of  them,  but  the  facilities  will  be  useless  unless  used 
by  individuals.  They  can  not  be  done  by  resolutions 
of  this  or  any  other  commercial  body ;  resolutions  are 
useless  unless  they  stir  individual  business  men  to 
action  in  their  own  business  affairs.  The  things 
needed  have  been  fully  and.  specifically  set  forth  in 
many  reports  of  efficient  consuls  and  of  highly  com- 
petent agents  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor,  and  they  have  been  described  in  countless 
newspapers  and  magazine  articles;  but  all  these 
things  are  worthless  unless  they  are  followed  by  indi- 
vidual action.  I  will  indicate  some  of  the  matters 
to  which  every  producer  and  merchant  who  desires 
South  American  trade  should  pay  attention : 


ROOT.  283 

i.  He  should  learn  what  the  South  Americans 
want  and  conform  his  product  to  their  wants.  If 
they  think  they  need  heavy  castings,  he  should  give 
them  heavy  castings  and  not  expect  them  to  buy 
light  ones  because  he  thinks  they  are  better.  If 
they  want  coarse  cottons,  he  should  give  them  coarse 
cottons  and  not  expect  them  to  buy  fine  cottons. 
It  may  not  pay  to-day,  but  it  will  pay  to-morrow. 
The  tendency  to  standardize  articles  of  manufacture 
may  reduce  the  cost  and  promote  convenience,  but 
if  the  consumers  on  the  River  Plate  demand  a  dif- 
ferent standard  from  the  consumers  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, you  must  have  two  standards  or  lose  one 
market. 

2.  Both  for  the  purpose  of  learning  what  the  South 
American  people  want  and  of  securing  their  atten- 
tion to  your  goods  you  must  have  agents  who  speak 
the  Spanish  or  Portuguese  language.  For  this 
there  are  two  reasons:  one  is  that  people  can  seldom 
really  get  at  each  other's  minds  through  an  inter- 
preter, and  the  other  is  that  nine  times  out  of  ten  it 
is  only  through  knowing  the  Spanish  or  Portuguese 
language  that  a  North  American  comes  to  appreciate 
the  admirable  and  attractive  personal  qualities  of 
the  South  American,  and  is  thus  able  to  establish 
that  kindly  and  agreeable  personal  relation  which  is 
so  potent  in  leading  to  business  relations. 

3.  The  American  producer  should  arrange  to 
conform  his  credit  system  to  that  prevailing  in  the 
country  where  he  wishes  to  sell  goods.  There  is 


284  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS. 

no  more  money  lost  upon  commercial  credits  in 
South  America  than  there  is  in  North  America; 
but  business  men  there  have  their  own  ways  of 
doing  business ;  they  have  to  adapt  the  credits  they 
receive  to  the  credits  they  give.  It  is  often  incon- 
venient and  disagreeable,  and  it  is  sometimes  im- 
possible, for  them  to  conform  to  our  ways,  and 
the  requirement  that  they  should  do  so  is  a  serious 
obstacle  to  trade. 

To  understand  credits  it  is,  of  course,  necessary 
to  know  something  about  the  character,  trustworthi- 
ness, and  commercial  standing  of  the  purchaser,  and 
the  American  producer  or  merchant  who  would  sell 
goods  in  South  America  must  have  some  means  of 
knowledge  upon  this  subject.  This  leads  naturally 
to  the  next  observation  I  have  to  make. 

4.  The  establishment  of  banks  should  be  brought 
about.  The  Americans  already  engaged  in  South 
American  trade  could  well  afford  to  subscribe  the 
capital  and  establish  an  American  bank  in  each  of 
the  principal  cities  of  South  America.  This  is, 
first,  because  nothing  but  very  bad  management 
could  prevent  such  a  bank  from  making  money ; 
capital  is  much  needed  in  those  cities,  and  6,  8,  and 
10  per  cent  can  be  obtained  for  money  upon  just  as 
safe  security  as  can  be  had  in  Kansas  City,  St.  Louis, 
or  New  York.  It  is  also  because  the  American 
bank  would  furnish  a  source  of  information  as  to 
the  standing  of  the  South  American  purchasers 
to  whom  credit  may  be  extended,  and  because 
American  banks  would  relieve  American  business 


ROOT.  285 

in  South  America  from  the  disadvantage  which 
now  exists  of  making  all  its  financial  transactions 
through  Europe  instead  of  directly  with  the  United 
States.  It  is  unfortunately  true  that  among  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  possible  customers  the  United 
States  now  stands  in  a  position  of  assumed  financial 
and  business  inferiority  to  the  countries  through 
whose  banking  houses  all  its  business  has  to  be 
done. 

5.  The  American  merchant  should  himself  ac- 
quire, if  he  has  not  already  done  so,  and  should  im- 
press upon  all  his  agents  that  respect  for  the  South 
American  to  which  he  is  justly  entitled  and  which 
is  the  essential  requisite  to  respect  from  the  South 
American.  We  are  different  in  many  ways  as  to 
character  and  methods.  In  dealing  with  all  foreign 
people  it  is  important  to  avoid  the  narrow  and  un- 
instructed  prejudice  which  assumes  that  difference 
from  ourselves  denotes  inferiority.  There  is  noth- 
ing that  we  resent  so  quickly  as  an  assumption  of 
superiority  or  evidence  of  condescension  in  foreign- 
ers; there  is  nothing  that  the  South  Americans 
resent  so  quickly.  The  South  Americans  are  our 
superiors  in  some  respects ;  we  are  their  superiors 
in  other  respects.  We  should  show  to  them  what 
is  best  in  us  and  see  what  is  best  in  them.  Every 
agent  of  an  American  producer  or  merchant  should 
be  instructed  that  courtesy,  politeness,  kindly  con- 
sideration, are  essential  requisites  for  success  in  the 
South  American  trade. 


286  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS. 

6.  The  investment  of  American  capital  in  South 
America  under  the  direction  of  American  experts 
should  be  promoted,  not  merely  upon   simple  in- 
vestment grounds,  but  as  a  means  of  creating  and 
enlarging  trade.     For  simple  investment  purposes 
the  opportunities  are  innumerable.     Good  business 
judgment  and  good  business  management  will  be 
necessary  there,   of  course,   as  they  are   necessary 
here ;  but,  given  these,  I  believe  that  there  is  a  vast 
number  of  enterprises  awaiting  capital  in  the  more 
advanced  countries  of  South  America,  capable  of 
yielding  great  profits,  and  in  which  the  property  and 
the  profits  will  be  as  safe  as  in  the  United  States  or 
Canada.     A  good  many  such  enterprises  are  already 
begun.     I  have  found  a  graduate  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology,  a  graduate  of  the  Co- 
lumbia School  of  Mines,  and  a  graduate  of  Colonel 
Roosevelt's  Rough   Riders  smelting  copper   close 
under  the  snow  line  of  the  Andes ;  I  have  ridden  in 
an  American  car  upon  an  American  electric  road, 
built  by  a  New  York  engineer,  in  the  heart  of  the 
coffee  region  of  Brazil;  and  I  have  seen  the  waters 
of  that  river  along  which  Pizarro  established  his 
line  of   communication    in  the   conquest  of  Peru 
harnessed  to  American  machinery  to  make  light  and 
power  for  the  city  of  Lima.     Every  such  point  is 
the  nucleus  of  American  trade — the  source  of  orders 
for  American  goods. 

7.  It  is  absolutely  essential  that  the  means  of 
communication  between  the  two  countries  should 
be  improved  and  increased. 


ROOT.  287 

This  underlies  all  other  considerations  and  it 
applies  both  to  the  mail,  the  passenger,  and  the 
freight  services.  Between  all  the  principal  South 
American  ports  and  England,  Germany,  France, 
Spain,  Italy,  lines  of  swift  and  commodious  steamers 
ply  regularly.  There  are  five  subsidized  first-class 
mail  and  passenger  lines  between  Buenos  Aires  and 
Europe ;  there  is  no  such  line  between  Buenos  Aires 
and  the  United  States.  Within  the  past  two  years 
the  German,  the  English,  and  the  Italian  lines  have 
been  replacing  their  old  steamers  with  new  and 
swifter  steamers  of  modern  construction,  accommo- 
dation, and  capacity. 

In  the  year  ending  June  30,  1905,  there  entered 
the  port  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  steamers  and  sailing  ves- 
sels flying  the  flag  of  Austria-Hungary  120,  of  Nor- 
way 142,  of  Italy  165,  of  Argentina  264,  of  France 
349,  of  Germany  657,  of  Great  Britain  1,785,  of  the 
United  States  no  steamers  and  seven  sailing  vessels, 
two  of  which  were  in  distress ! 

An  English  firm  runs  a  small  steamer  monthly 
between  New  York  and  Rio  de  Janeiro;  the  Pan- 
ama Railroad  Company  runs  steamers  between  New 
York  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama;  the  Brazilians  are 
starting  for  themselves  a  line  between  Rio  and  New 
York ;  there  are  two  or  three  foreign  concerns  run- 
ning slow  cargo  boats,  and  there  are  some  foreign 
tramp  steamers.  That  is  the  sum  total  of  American 
communications  with  South  America  beyond  the 
Caribbean  Sea.  Not  one  American  steamship  runs 
to  any  South  American  port  beyond  the  Caribbean. 


288  COMMERCIAL    CONGRESS. 

During  the  past  summer  I  entered  the  ports  of 
Para,  Pernambuco,  Bahia,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Santos, 
Montevideo,  Buenos  Aires,  Bahia  Blanca,  Punta 
Arenas,  Lota,  Valparaiso,  Coquimbo,  Tocopilla, 
Callao,  and  Cartagena — all  of  the  great  ports  and 
a  large  proportion  of  the  secondary  ports  of  the 
Southern  Continent.  I  saw  only  one  ship,  besides 
the  cruiser  that  carried  me,  flying  the  American  flag. 
The  mails  between  South  America  and  Europe  are 
swift,  regular,  and  certain  ;  between  South  America 
and  the  United  States  they  are  slow,  irregular,  and 
uncertain.  Six  weeks  is  not  an  uncommon  time 
for  a  letter  to  take  between  Buenos  Aires  or  Val- 
paraiso and  New  York.  The  merchant  who  wishes 
to  order  American  goods  can  not  know  when  his 
order  will  be  received  or  when  it  will  be  filled.  The 
freight  charges  between  the  South  American  cities 
and  American  cities  are  generally  and  substantially 
higher  than  between  the  same  cities  and  Europe ;  at 
many  points  the  deliveries  of  freight  are  uncertain 
and  its  condition  upon  arrival  doubtful.  The  passen- 
ger accommodations  are  such  as  to  make  a  journey 
to  the  United  States  a  trial  to  be  endured  and  a 
journey  to  Europe  a  pleasure  to  be  enjoyed.  The 
best  way  to  travel  between  the  United  States  and 
both  the  southwest  coast  and  the  east  coast  of  South 
America  is  to  go  by  way  of  Europe,  crossing  the 
Atlantic  twice.  It  is  impossible  that  trade  should 
prosper  or  intercourse  increase  or  mutual  knowledge 
grow  to  any  great  degree  under  such  circumstances. 
The  communication  is  worse  now  than  it  was  twenty- 


ROOT.  289 

five  years  ago.  So  long  as  it  is  left  in  the  hands  of 
our  foreign  competitors  in  business  we  can  not 
reasonably  look  for  any  improvement.  It  is  only 
reasonable  to  expect  that  European  steamship  lines 
shall  be  so  managed  as  to  promote  European  trade 
in  South  America  rather  than  to  promote  the  trade  of 
the  United  States  in  South  America. 

This  woeful  deficiency  in  the  means  to  carry  on 
and  enlarge  our  South  American  trade  is  but  a  part 
of  the  general  decline  and  feebleness  of  the  Ameri- 
can merchant  marine,  which  has  reduced  us  from 
carrying  over  90  per  cent  of  our  export  trade  in  our 
own  ships  to  the  carriage  of  9  per  cent  of  that  trade 
in  our  own  ships  and  dependence  upon  foreign  ship- 
owners for  the  carriage  of  91  per  cent.  The  true 
remedy  and  the  only  remedy  is  the  establishment  of 
American  lines  of  steamships  between  the  United 
States  and  the  great  ports  of  South  America,  ade- 
quate to  render  fully  as  good  service  as  is  now  af- 
forded by  the  European  lines  between  those  ports 
and  Europe.  The  substantial  underlying  fact  was 
well  stated  in  the  resolution  of  this  Trans-Mississippi 
Congress  three  years  ago : 

That  every  ship  is  a  missionary  of  trade;  that  steam- 
ship lines  work  for  their  own  countries  just  as  railroad 
lines  work  for  their  terminal  points,  and  that  it  is  as  absurd 
for  the  United  States  to  depend  upon  foreign  ships  to  dis- 
tribute its  products  as  it  would  be  for  a  department  store 
to  depend  upon  wagons  of  a  competing  house  to  deliver 
its  goods. 

R 19 


2QO  COMMERCIAL    CONGRESS. 

How  can  this  defect  be  remedied  ?  The  answer 
to  this  question  must  be  found  by  ascertaining  the 
cause  of  the  decline  of  our  merchant  marine.  Why 
is  it  that  Americans  have  substantially  retired  from 
the  foreign  transport  service?  We  are  a  nation  of 
maritime  traditions  and  facility;  we  are  a  nation  of 
constructive  capacity,  competent  to  build  ships;  we 
are  eminent,  if  not  preeminent,  in  the  construction 
of  machinery ;  we  have  abundant  capital  seeking  in- 
vestment; we  have  courage  and  enterprise  shrink- 
ing from  no  competition  in  any  field  which  we 
choose  to  enter.  Why,  then,  have  we  retired  from 
this  field  in  which  we  were  once  conspicuously 
successful  ? 

I  think  the  answer  is  twofold. 

i.  The  higher  wages  and  the  greater  cost  of 
maintenance  of  American  officers  and  crews  make 
it  impossible  to  compete  on  equal  terms  with  for- 
eign ships.  The  scale  of  living  and  the  scale  of 
pay  of  American  sailors  are  fixed  by  the  standard 
of  wages  and  of  living  in  the  United  States,  and 
those  are  maintained  at  a  high  level  by  the  protect- 
ive tariff.  The  moment  the  American  passes  be- 
yond the  limits  of  his  country  and  engages  in  ocean 
transportation  he  comes  into  competition  with  the 
lower  foreign  scale  of  wages  and  of  living.  Mr. 
Joseph  L.  Bristow,  in  his  report  upon  trade  condi- 
tions affecting  the  Panama  Railroad,  dated  June  14, 
1905,  gives  in  detail  the  cost  of  operating  an  Ameri- 
can steamship  with  a  tonnage  of  approximately 


ROOT.  291 

thirty-five  hundred  tons  as  compared  with  the  cost 
of  operating  a  specified  German  steamship  of  the 
same  tonnage,  and  the  differences  aggregate  $15,315 
per  annum  greater  cost  for  the  American  steamship 
than  for  the  German;  that  is  $4.37  per  ton.  He 
gives  also  in  detail  the  cost  of  maintaining  another 
American  steamship  with  a  tonnage  of  approxi- 
mately twenty-five  hundred  tons  as  compared  with 
the  cost  of  operating  a  specified  British  steamship 
of  the  same  tonnage,  and  the  differences  aggregate 
$18,289.68  per  annum  greater  cost  for  the  Ameri- 
can steamship  than  for  the  British;  that  is  $7.31  per 
ton.  It  is  manifest  that  if  the  German  steamship 
were  content  with  a  profit  of  less  than  $15,000  per 
annum,  and  the  British  with  a  profit  of  less  than 
$18,000  per  annum,  the  American  ships  would  have 
to  go  out  of  business. 

2.  The  principal  maritime  nations  of  the  world, 
anxious  to  develop  their  trade,  to  promote  their 
shipbuilding  industry,  to  have  at  hand  transports 
and  auxiliary  cruisers  in  case  of  war,  are  fostering 
their  steamship  lines  by  the  payment  of  subsidies. 
England  is  paying  to  her  steamship  lines  between 
six  and  seven  million  dollars  a  year ;  it  is  estimated 
that  since  1840  she  has  paid  to  them  between  two 
hundred  and  fifty  and  three  hundred  millions.  The 
enormous  development  of  her  commerce,  her  pre- 
ponderant share  of  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world, 
and  her  shipyards  crowded  with  construction  orders 
from  every  part  of  the  earth  indicate  the  success  of 


2Q2  COMMERCIAL    CONGRESS. 

her  policy.  France  is  paying  about  eight  million 
dollars  a  year;  Italy  and  Japan,  between  three  and 
four  million  each ;  Germany,  upon  the  initiative  of 
Bismarck,  is  building  up  her  trade  with  wonderful 
rapidity  by  heavy  subventions  to  her  steamship 
lines  and  by  giving  special  differential  rates  of  car- 
riage over  her  railroads  for  merchandise  shipped  by 
those  lines.  Spain,  Norway,  Austria-Hungary, 
Canada,  all  subsidize  their  own  lines.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  about  $28,000,000  a  year  are  paid  by 
our  commercial  competitors  to  their  steamship  lines. 

Against  these  advantages  to  his  competitor  the 
American  shipowner  has  to  contend ;  and  it  is  mani- 
fest that  the  subsidized  ship  can  afford  to  carry 
freight  at  cost  for  a  long  enough  period  to  drive 
him  out  of  business. 

We  are  living  in  a  world  not  of  natural  compe- 
tition, but  of  subsidized  competition.  State  aid  to 
steamship  lines  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  commercial 
system  of  our  day  as  state  employment  of  consuls 
to  promote  business. 

It  will  be  observed  that  both  of  these  disadvan- 
tages under  which  the  American  shipowner  labors  are 
artificial ;  they  are  created  by  governmental  action- 
one  by  our  own  Government  in  raising  the  standard 
of  wages  and  living,  by  the  protective  tariff;  the  other 
by  foreign  governments  in  paying  subsidies  to  their 
ships  for  the  promotion  of  their  own  trade.  For 
the  American  shipowner  it  is  not  a  contest  of  in- 
telligence, skill,  industry,  and  thrift  against  similar 


ROOT.  293 

qualities  in  his  competitor;  it  is  a  contest  against 
his  competitors  and  his  competitors'  governments 
and  his  own  Government  also. 

Plainly,  these  disadvantages  created  by  govern- 
mental action  can  be  neutralized  only  by  govern- 
mental action,  and  should  be  neutralized  by  such 
action. 

What  action  ought  our  Government  to  take  for 
the  accomplishment  of  this  just  purpose?  Three 
kinds  of  action  have  been  advocated. 

i.  A  law  providing  for  free  ships — that  is,  per- 
mitting Americans  to  buy  ships  in  other  countries 
and  bring  them  under  the  American  flag.  Plainly, 
this  would  not  at  all  meet  the  difficulties  which  I 
have  described.  The  only  thing  it  would  accom- 
plish would  be  to  overcome  the  excess  in  cost  of 
building  a  ship  in  an  American  shipyard  over  the 
cost  of  building  it  in  a  foreign  shipyard;  but  since 
all  the  materials  which  enter  into  an  American  ship 
are  entirely  relieved  of  duty,  the  difference  in  cost 
of  construction  is  so  slight  as  to  be  practically  a 
negligible  quantity  and  to  afford  no  substantial  ob- 
stacle to  the  revival  of  American  shipping.  The 
expedient  of  free  ships,  therefore,  would  be  merely 
to  sacrifice  our  American  shipbuilding  industry, 
which  ought  to  be  revived  and  enlarged  with  Ameri- 
can shipping,  and  to  sacrifice  it  without  receiving 
any  substantial  benefit.  It  is  to  be  observed  that 
Germany,  France,  and  Italy  all  have  attempted  to 
build  up  their  own  shipping  by  adopting  the  policy 


294  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS. 

of  free  ships,  have  failed  in  the  experiment,  have 
abandoned  it,  and  have  adopted  in  its  place  the 
policy  of  subsidy. 

2.  It  has  been  proposed  to  establish  a  discrimi- 
nating  tariff  duty  in  favor  of   goods  imported  in 
American  ships — that  is  to  say,  to   impose  higher 
duties  upon  goods  imported  in  foreign  ships  than 
are  imposed  on  goods  imported  in  American  ships. 
We  tried  that  once  many  years  ago  and  have  aban- 
doned it.     In  its  place  we  have  entered  into  treaties 
of   commerce    and    navigation   with    the    principal 
countries  of  the  world  expressly  agreeing  that  no 
such  discrimination  shall  be  made  between  their  ves- 
sels and  ours.     To  sweep  away  all  those  treaties  and 
enter   upon   a   war  of   commercial   retaliation  and 
reprisal    for  the   sake   of  accomplishing   indirectly 
what  can  be  done  directly  should  not  be  seriously 
considered. 

3.  There  remains  the  third  and  obvious  method : 
to  neutralize  the  artificial   disadvantages    imposed 
upon  American  shipping  through  the  action  of  our 
own  Government  and  foreign  governments  by  an 
equivalent  advantage  in  the   form  of  a  subsidy  or 
subvention.     In  my  opinion  this  is  what  should  be 
done ;  it  is  the  sensible  and  fair  thing  to  do.     It  is 
what  must  be  done  if  we  would  have  a  revival  of  our 
shipping  and  the  desired  development  of  our  for- 
eign trade.    We  can  not  repeal  the  protective  tariff ; 
no  political  party  dreams  of  repealing  it ;  we  do  not 
wish  to  lower  the  standard  of  American  living  or 


ROOT.  295 

American  wages.  We  should  give  back  to  the 
shipowner  what  we  take  away  from  him  for  the 
purpose  of  maintaining  that  standard;  and  unless 
we  do  give  it  back  we  shall  continue  to  go  without 
ships.  How  can  the  expenditure  of  public  money 
for  the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors  to  pro- 
mote trade  be  justified  upon  any  grounds  which 
do  not  also  sustain  this  proposal?  Would  anyone 
reverse  the  policy  that  granted  aid  to  the  Pacific 
railroads,  the  pioneers  of  our  enormous  internal 
commerce,  the  agencies  that  built  up  the  great  traffic 
which  has  enabled  half  a  dozen  other  roads  to  be 
built  in  later  years  without  assistance?  Such  sub- 
ventions would  not  be  gifts.  They  would  be  at 
once  compensation  for  injuries  inflicted  upon  Amer- 
ican shipping  by  American  laws  and  the  considera- 
tion for  benefits  received  by  the  whole  American 
people — not  the  shippers  or  the  shipbuilders  or  the 
sailors  alone,  but  by  every  manufacturer,  every 
miner,  every  farmer,  every  merchant  whose  pros- 
perity depends  upon  a  market  for  its  products. 

The  provision  for  such  just  compensation  should 
be  carefully  shaped  and  directed  so  that  it  will  go  to 
individual  advantage  only  so  far  as  the  individual  is 
enabled  by  it  to  earn  a  reasonable  profit  by  building 
up  the  business  of  the  country. 

A  bill  is  now  pending  in  Congress  which  con- 
tains such  provisions ;  it  has  passed  the  Senate  and 
is  now  before  the  House  Committee  on  Merchant 


296  COMMERCIAL    CONGRESS. 

Marine  and  Fisheries;  it  is  known  as  Senate  bill 
No.  529,  Fifty-ninth  Congress,  First  Session.  It 
provides  specifically  that  the  Postmaster-General 
may  pay  to  American  steamships,  of  specified  rates 
of  speed,  carrying  mails  upon  a  regular  service, 
compensation  not  to  exceed  the  following  amounts : 
For  a  line  from  an  Atlantic  port  to  Brazil,  monthly, 
$  1 50,000  a  year ;  for  a  line  from  an  Atlantic  port  to 
Uruguay  and  Argentina,  monthly,  $187,500  a  year; 
for  a  line  from  a  Gulf  port  to  Brazil,  monthly, 
$I37>5OO  a  year;  for  a  line  from  each  of  two  Gulf 
ports  and  from  New  Orleans  to  Central  America 
and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  weekly,  $75,000  a  year ; 
for  a  line  from  a  Gulf  port  to  Mexico,  weekly, 
$50,000  a  year;  for  a  line  from  a  Pacific  coast  port 
to  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  fortnightly,  $120,000  a  year.  For  these 
six  regular  lines  a  total  of  $720,000.  The  pay- 
ments provided  are  no  more  than  enough  to  give 
the  American  ships  a  fair  living  chance  in  the 
competition. 

There  are  other  wise  and  reasonable  provisions 
in  the  bill  relating  to  trade  with  the  Orient,  to  tramp 
steamers,  and  to  a  naval  reserve,  but  I  am  now  con- 
cerned with  the  provisions  for  trade  to  the  south. 
The  hope  of  such  a  trade  lies  chiefly  in  the  passage 
of  that  bill. 

Postmaster-General  Cortelyou,  in  his  report  for 
1905,  said: 


ROOT.  297 

Congress  has  authorized  the  Postmaster-General,  by 
the  act  of  1891,  to  contract  with  the  owners  of  Ameri- 
can steamships  for  ocean  mail  service  and  has  realized  the 
impracticability  of  commanding  suitable  steamships  in  the 
interest  of  the  postal  service  alone  by  requiring  that  such 
steamers  shall  be  of  a  size,  class,  and  equipment  which 
will  promote  commerce  and  become  available  as  auxiliary 
cruisers  of  the  Navy  in  case  of  need.  The  compensation 
allowed  to  such  steamers  is  found  to  be  wholly  inadequate 
to  secure  the  proposals  contemplated;  hence,  advertise- 
ments from  time  to  time  have  failed  to  develop  any  bids 
for  much-needed  service.  This  is  especially  true  in  regard 
to  several  of  the  countries  of  South  America,  with  which 
we  have  cordial  relations  and  which,  for  manifest  reasons, 
should  have  direct  mail  connections  with  us.  I  refer  to 
Brazil  and  countries  south  of  it.  Complaints  of  serious 
delay  to  mails  for  these  countries  have  become  frequent 
and  emphatic,  leading  to  the  suggestion  on  the  part  of 
certain  officials  of  the  Government  that  for  the  present 
and  until  more  satisfactory  direct  communication  can  be 
established  important  mails  should  be  dispatched  to  South 
America  by  way  of  European  ports  and  on  European 
steamers,  which  would  not  only  involve  the  United  States 
in  the  payment  of  double  transit  rates  to  a  foreign  coun- 
try for  the  dispatch  of  its  mails  to  countries  of  our  own 
hemisphere,  but  might  seriously  embarrass  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  exchange  of  important  official  and  diplomatic 
correspondence. 

The  fact  that  the  Government  claims  exclusive  con- 
trol of  the  transmission  of  letter  mail  throughout  its  own 
territory  would  seem  to  imply  that  it  should  secure  and 
maintain  the  exclusive  jurisdiction,  when  necessary,  of 
its  mails  on  the  high  seas.  The  unprecedented  expansion 
of  trade  and  foreign  commerce  justifies  prompt  considera- 
tion of  an  adequate  foreign  mail  service. 


298  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS. 

It  is  difficult  to  believe,  but  it  is  true,  that  out 
of  this  faulty  ocean  mail  service  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  is  making  a  large  profit.  The 
actual  cost  to  the  Government  last  year  of  the  ocean 
mail  service  to  foreign  countries  other  than  Canada 
and  Mexico  was  $2,965,624.21,  while  the  proceeds 
realized  by  the  Government  from  postage  between 
the  United  States  and  foreign  countries  other  than 
Canada  and  Mexico  was  $6,008,807.53,  leaving  the 
profit  to  the  United  States  of  $3,043,183.32;  that 
is  to  say,  under  existing  law  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  having  assumed  the  monopoly  of 
carrying  the  mails  for  the  people  of  the  country,  is 
making  a  profit  of  $3,000,000  per  annum  by  render- 
ing cheap  and  inefficient  service.  Every  dollar  of 
that  three  millions  is  made  at  the  expense  of  the 
commerce  of  the  United  States.  What  can  be 
plainer  than  that  the  Government  ought  to  expend 
at  least  the  profits  that  it  gets  from  the  ocean  mail 
service  in  making  the  ocean  mail  service  efficient. 
One  quarter  of  those  profits  would  establish  all  these 
lines  which  I  have  described  between  the  United 
States  and  South  and  Central  America  and  give  us, 
besides  a  good  mail  service,  enlarged  markets  for 
the  producers  and  merchants  of  the  United  States 
who  pay  the  postage  from  which  the  profits  come.* 

*There  would  be  some  modification  of  these  figures  if  the  cost  of 
getting  the  mails  to  and  from  the  exchange  offices  were  charged  against 
the  account;  but  this  is  not  separable  from  the  general  domestic  cost 
and  would  not  materially  change  the  result. 


ROOT.  299 

In  his  last  message  to  Congress,  President 
Roosevelt  said : 

To  the  spread  of  our  trade  in  peace  and  the  defense  of 
our  flag  in  war  a  great  and  prosperous  merchant  marine 
is  indispensable.  We  should  have  ships  of  our  own  and 
seamen  of  our  own  to  convey  our  goods  to  neutral  mar- 
kets, and  in  case  of  need  to  reenforce  our  battle  line.  It 
can  not  but  be  a  source  of  regret  and  uneasiness  to  us 
that  the  lines  of  communication  with  our  sister  Republics 
of  South  America  should  be  chiefly  under  foreign  control. 
It  is  not  a  good  thing  that  American  merchants  and  man- 
ufacturers should  have  to  send  their  goods  and  letters  to 
South  America  via  Europe  if  they  wish  security  and  dis- 
patch. Even  on  the  Pacific,  where  our  ships  have  held 
their  own  better  than  on  the  Atlantic,  our  merchant  flag 
is  now  threatened  through  the  liberal  aid  bestowed  by 
other  governments  on  their  own  steam  lines.  I  ask  your 
earnest  consideration  of  the  report  with  which  the  Mer- 
chant Marine  Commission  has  followed  its  long  and 
careful  inquiry. 

The  bill  now  pending  in  the  House  is  a  bill 
framed  upon  the  report  of  that  Merchant  Marine 
Commission.  The  question  whether  it  shall  be- 
come a  law  depends  upon  your  Representatives 
in  the  House.  You  have  the  judgment  of  the 
Postmaster-General,  you  have  the  judgment  of  the 
Senate,  you  have  the  judgment  of  the  President; 
if  you  agree  with  these  judgments  and  wish  the  bill 
which  embodies  them  to  become  a  law,  say  so  to 
your  Representatives.  Say  it  to  them  individually 
and  directly,  for  it  is  your  right  to  advise  them  and 
it  will  be  their  pleasure  to  hear  from  you  what 
legislation  the  interests  of  their  constituents  demand. 


3OO  COMMERCIAL    CONGRESS. 

The  great  body  of  Congressmen  are  always  sin- 
cerely desirous  to  meet  the  just  wishes  of  their  con- 
stituents and  to  do  what  is  for  the  public  interest ; 
but  in  this  great  country  they  are  continually  as- 
sailed by  innumerable  expressions  of  private  opinion 
and  by  innumerable  demands  for  the  expenditure 
of  public  money ;  they  come  to  discriminate  very 
clearly  between  private  opinion  and  public  opinion, 
and  between  real  public  opinion  and  the  manufac- 
tured appearance  of  public  opinion ;  they  know  that 
when  there  is  a  real  demand  for  any  kind  of  legis- 
lation it  will  make  itself  known  to  them  through 
a  multitude  of  individual  voices.  Resolutions  of 
commercial  bodies  frequently  indicate  nothing  ex- 
cept that  the  proposer  of  the  resolution  has  a  posi- 
tive opinion  and  that  no  one  else  has  interest  enough 
in  the  subject  to  oppose  it.  Such  resolutions  by 
themselves,  therefore,  have  comparatively  little  ef- 
fect; they  are  effective  only  when  the  support  of 
individual  expressions  shows  that  they  really  repre- 
sent a  genuine  and  general  opinion. 

It  is  for  you  and  the  business  men  all  over  the 
country  whom  you  represent  to  show  to  the  Rep- 
resentatives in  Congress  that  the  producing  and 
commercial  interests  of  the  country  really  desire  a 
practical  measure  to  enlarge  the  markets  and  in- 
crease the  foreign  trade  of  the  United  States,  by 
enabling  American  shipping  to  overcome  the  dis- 
advantages imposed  upon  it  by  foreign  govern- 
ments for  the  benefit  of  their  trade,  and  by  our 
Government  for  the  benefit  of  our  home  industry. 

O  ic 


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